


Two Krus - Allies

by MaxiBrux



Series: Two Krus [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clarke Griffin/Bellamy Blake (past), D/s undertones No safe words, Minor Character Death, Multi, Pregnancy, Surragacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:48:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21522466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxiBrux/pseuds/MaxiBrux
Summary: With her loved ones safe in space for the winter, Clarke travels to Polis in order to help Octavia and Wonkru prepare for their lives above ground in this new devastated land.  Not everyone welcomes her help.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Echo, Charmaine Diyoza & Clarke Griffin, Eric Jackson/Nathan Miller, Octavia Blake & Clarke Griffin
Series: Two Krus [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1497572
Comments: 48
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As with all my Two Krus work this has little to no editing and is really a free flow of thoughts with no planning or outlining. That is why there may be continuity thread problems and ideas that may have popped up in my other work, or have been unconsciously taken from things that I have read elsewhere. If I have done the latter, please let me know so that I can apologise and/or change it. Thank you.

Clarke drove into Polis and could feel the depression settling over her. No wonder Wonkru were not doing well, they had nothing to look forward to. That would have to be one of the first things that were addressed: give everyone a reason to carry on, a purpose in life.

Clarke parked the rover as close to the bunker as she could and got out to face many stares: some were the blank look of the lost; some were hostile, but Clarke couldn’t know why they were hostile; some were wary and few were welcoming.

“Wanheda, Blodreina bids you welcome” a grounder said.

“Thank you, but I prefer to be called Clarke.”

“It will be as Blodreina wishes” Clarke was told firmly.

“No, it will be as I wish. Octavia has asked me to come here to help Wonkru move to a viable home. If I am to be comfortable I will be addressed by my name. If such a concession is too much for you then I guess I should be on my way back to my home.” Clarke needed it to be made clear that she was there as a favour and what she wanted, she would get, especially when it was something simple like being addressed by her name.

Clarke looked around as she was escorted through the bunker to Octavia. The whole place reeked of defeat. That was the first thing that would need to be changed. It was the beginning of winter and if things were not to improve before they were locked up in the bunker to get through the coldest weeks then Clarke wasn’t sure that everyone would still be around to live a better life.

Octavia greeted Clarke wearing all black, half body armour and surrounded by guards. At least she wasn’t wearing red face paint, Clarke noted.

A short conversation in Trig followed in which Octavia was informed that ‘the traitor’ had insisted on addressing Blodreina by her given name and wanted to be addressed by her own given name rather than the one by which she was known as by Wonkru.

Clarke was about to let it be known that she understood what was being said when Octavia told Colm, also in trig that if it made me more willing to help then there was no harm in addressing me by my given name and that she would talk to me about showing the proper respect to her. Clarke could not understand how Octavia could not know that she was fluent in trigedesleng.

“Leave us” Octavia ordered all her people, including a glaring Miller who closed the door to the office behind him.

“When talking to my people you must address me respectfully by using my title” Octavia demanded.

“I will always address and refer to you respectfully. I am your equal and will address you as such. You are Octavia kom Wonkru. You need to take a step away from the horrors of the pit, of the march to the death and that means a step back from Blodreina. Be Blodreina to your people, but be Octavia to you friends and allies. If I am not your equal, and don’t forget you suggested I be your Commander, then what am I doing here?”

Octavia looked upset as she thought of a way to argue. “How do you want to play this?” she asked as a way to avoid the question.

“I think you need to address all your people by telling them that it is now time to prepare to live a life outside the bunker. You should point out that you have to stay in bunker for winter and you want everyone to spend a little time to make the place a bit more habitable while plans are being made for spring and onwards. Get rid of the pit, clean it up, take down the fence, remove the weapons; stop wearing your battle dress and smile as if you are pleased to see your people going about their business; have a mass funeral service to pay your respects to those who have passed and make your guards put away their guns and be part of your kru not your enforcers.”

“I’m not sure that would be safe for me” Octavia offered.

“If you show you are part of the people and are offering them a future you will be safe. You are very handy with your weapon, as am I, as is Indra, and so on. You need no more intimidation. The guns merely emphasise that there are some members of Wonkru who are more than others and they almost all separated between former Skaikru and former kongeda. There is no issue about the pit, though, or having a mass funeral service, is there?”

“No, I can certainly do that bit. I’ll give instructions and make announcements tonight at dinner. We all eat together each evening. I’ll instruct the guards to only carry concealed weapons to dinner and if all goes well this evening there in after. Do you also want to address my people?”

Clarke thought a little and decided that it couldn’t do any harm and agreed but wondered if either she or Octavia would regret it.

“There is one thing, though, Octavia. You had better not offer me any human flesh to eat again. There is no need to now that the farm is producing again and while it is safe to eat a little as an emergency, prolonged exposure to it is bad for us. Our digestive systems are not designed to digest our own flesh and it can become difficult digest normal food. I don’t want to get used to it. I think you should say something to that effect to your people to give them the option of a gradual and safer return to a normal diet or a cold turkey return which is likely to lead to some sickness.”

“You’re not going to have a go at me for forcing us to eat our own people?” Octavia seemed surprised.

“No, you do what you have to do to survive. I do have a problem with how some of those people died, though; but that’s in the past and we remember and learn from it but we don’t need to dwell on it.”

“I thought you would go on at me for it; you know, remind me of the shit I used to give you” and Octavia sounded a little like the teenager she used to be.

Clarke merely shrugged. There was no point in pushing an issue that was more likely to result in bad feelings than gain anything.

At the evening meal, there was the chant of “ All of me for all of us” before people started to eat. Clarke was pleased to see that see had only vegetables from the farm to eat, while everyone else had fewer vegetables and some normal ‘rations’. When it looked like everyone had finished eating Octavia stood up to talk. Miller reached for his concealed weapon.

“People of Wonkru, times have been hard, very hard” Octavia spoke in trig. Clarke kept her face neutral so as not to give away her fluency. “We survived the wrath of praimfayer and the darkest of times trapped in this bunker. Many have died to get us to this point. Their sacrifice will not be in vain. We will get to the surface and we will thrive. Starting tomorrow there will be no more fighting pit. We will remove the weapons and the fencing and clean the blood of our fellow kru members and we will thank them for the sacrifice of their lives.

“As you know, Polis was destroyed along with most of the rest of the world. We need to find somewhere that we can settle and prepare the land to grow to feed us again. We cannot begin that work until after this winter. We need to decide if we wish to live near to the kru led by Wanheda, Clarke, or live further away. There are good reasons to live close, and good reasons to take our own area further away. I shall talk with Wanheda Clarke and with my Council before I decide and announce it as soon as a decision is made. In preparation for our move though, I want you to spend these next moons of winter preparing your own personal things, make repairs, help others, exercise to build up strength and think about all the skills you possessed before praimfayer, because we will need them soon.

“After speaking to Dr Jackson, I have learned that our past diet is likely to have caused some damage to our ability to eat normal food. If we immediately gave up eating that which has kept us alive for these years then we are likely to get sick, possibly very sick and maybe die. If we gradually reduce the amount we eat then we are likely to remain healthy. I will no longer make that choice for you. I want you to remain healthy so you will be served a meal designed to keep up your strength and gradually, safely move us to a standard diet. You will not be given food to supplement that which you will not eat.

“As you see, Wanheda Clarke has come to visit for the winter moons. She will say some words about how she can help us to prepare for our lives outside the bunker.” Octavia turned to look at Clarke and quietly said, “I said that they could choose what to eat and that you had come stay while we talk about how we can plan for our future, over to you.

Clarke stood and looked at the pitiful Wonkru. Most had been pleased to be told that they no longer had to eat the flesh of their dead friends, even seemed to accept that it might make them ill, but they were not happy to be told they would not be given sufficient other foods to compensate. Octavia once again took the real choice away from them while trying to appear like she was giving them an option. Clarke wasn’t 100% sure what was the correct thing to do so decided to let it slide.

“Wonkru, it is a pleasure to stay with you while plans are made for your prosperous future above ground. I hope that it is possible for us to be close allies and you are able to settle near to us in Becca’s town. I cannot lie to you. It will be hard work. Not only to prepare soil for planting, but for finding materials to build your new homes. Everything you have in this bunker that can be repurposed must be carefully looked after for it will be some time before you will be able to make new weapons, weave new clothes, find fur for blankets. So look at everything you have here and think about what you can use it for once you get above ground.

“Just like some of your people helped mine to prepare our field for sowing, so shall my people help yours. But there is some mistrust between our peoples and that must change. I have children and I will not have them growing up in fear. I want my children to meet new people and not wonder if they need to run and hide. I want them to wonder if they know their friends; know their family; have come for a visit. I want them to enjoy meeting you. And when you have children, I want them to enjoy meeting us.

“I look to a future when we are all friendly allies, neighbours, trading partners, family.”

Clarke sat down and there was silence for a short while until Miller said “that would be so much more believable if you hadn’t made nice with our enemies.”

Clarke was shocked and offended.

“You know he’s right Clarke, you did make friends with our enemies” Octavia said.

“I made friends with the people who kidnapped me, tortured me, threatened my children, tried to kill me on more than one occasion, destroyed my home; I also made friends with some of the people from Eligius who did some of the same things some people from here have done. I also saved their lives, like I have saved yours. If I can make friends with people who have been my enemy, why can you not make friends with me when I have never not done anything but protect you. You need my help. You can kill me now and you will never get it. I can drive away and be happy without you. You will die without me. And as far as I am concerned, until you get over what ever bug is up your ass, you can do Wonkru the favour of never talking to me, never looking at me, and never thinking of me. Octavia, control your dog or I walk, you demanded I talk to you and about you with respect, I demand the same. I’m going to my rover. I’ll see you in the morning and you can let me know if my demand will be met.”

By the end of her rant, Clarke was not talking quietly and her words could be heard all over the canteen.

“Not so fast Griffin” Miller stood. “You think you can take me on?”

“In a marksmanship competition, yes. In a sword fight, yes. In an unarmed fight, yes. In a fight with my back to you while you have a gun pointing at me, yes, because if I don’t keep regular radio contact with my people they will fear the worst and let me tell you, they are even more reluctant to ally with you than you are to ally with them, and will be so glad to have the excuse to bomb this place to merry hell. So, your choice Miller, which challenge do you want to offer me, I promise I will meet them all?”

“That’s enough” Octavia said. “It’s clear there are some bad feelings, so before we finish with the pit, you can have one more fight. Unarmed combat, last one remaining conscious wins. There will be no more unnecessary death.”

Miller smirked at Clarke. She didn’t know what she could have done to earn his hatred, but she knew that it would make it easy to defeat him. Controlled passion in a fight was good, uncontrolled, like Miller’s was bad.

Clarke cringed at the thought of having to get down and dirty with the blood and dirt on the floor of the pit. She would really need a shower afterwards. Perhaps she should return to her home, get cleaned up and return later, bringing some food with her so no one can accuse her of taking their food.

Clarke removed her jacket and weapons and handed them over to Indra for safe keeping. Seeing Miller stripped of his tough outer clothing brought home how undernourished he was and Clarke feared that he might get seriously hurt. But her main priority was to make sure that she won, and quickly since the boys would be expecting her call soon.

It took less than 30 seconds for Clarke to have Miller on the ground, a little more than another half a minute to knock him unconscious. Clarke needn’t have worried about the blood, she didn’t spill any and only her boots touched the floor.

“I’m going to call my family. I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know if you wish to continue the talks and plans” Clarke said as she shrugged her jacket back on and put her weapons back in their homes. “Just make sure you keep the trash away from me.”

Whilst Clarke was talking to her family, and then to Diyoza with a full report; Octavia was in her office throwing a tantrum. Indra has not seen such behaviour from her in a long time. When the initial wave of anger had passed, Octavia asked “Why? Why did he have to open his mouth?”

Indra paused to think of how best to answer. “I think the biggest point was why did you not immediately shut him down instead of making it worse? Is it because you still feel anger towards her too?”

Octavia couldn’t really say. She knew that there were often no good choices and sometimes a leader had to take the least bad choice, but it was more about the decisions Clarke took with her personal life that made Octavia the most angry, but she knew she could not say that. “I thought we had talked through Miller’s reasons for his hatred and he had got passed it” she said instead of addressing Indra’s point.

“Miller is fiercely loyal to you, but his attitude to Clarke and her people is potentially dangerous not only to you personally, but to all of Wonkru. Without her and her people, those of us who marched on the valley would be dead. If we had died, or if she had just left us, then it is likely that Clarke would have been able to take over Wonkru with no opposition. Already there are many who would defect to her if we let them. She has now proved that she is a good leader by our standards and if we want to keep our people, then we need to keep on her good side. What happens when the farm stops producing again? What happens when the bunker floods? We need her and if Miller can’t accept that then you are going to have to make a very difficult choice, Blodreina” Indra said and left Octavia to her thoughts.  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke helps Wonkru try to find a new place to settle. Meanwhile, up in space, there are signs that Madi is growing up.

After her radio call to her family in space, Clarke sat in her Rover wandering if she had made the correct choice to rise to Miller’s baiting. They needed Wonkru if they were to thrive in the longer term. Spacekru, or the people of Becca’s Town, did not have enough people to build sustainable community unless they could harness the DNA of the rest of the prisoners in cryo without waking them up. They could not afford to have child rapists and murderers if they were planning on having more children around. She shuddered as she remembered the men who found Madi in the Valley and how they wanted to have some fun with her. They definitely did not have healthy childish games in mind. She trusted Charmaine to know the backgrounds to her people and to know which ones would be safe to waken even if they needed a period of re-habilitation, and she knew that it would not be enough. Even if a few from Wonkru decided to move clans, it would still not be enough, although Octavia did not need to know that no more than 100, and probably a lot fewer, of the prisoners in cryo would ever be brought down. 

A good night’s sleep in the back of the Rover, almost like old times, left Clarke feeling a lot more confident than she was the previous day. A light breakfast of rations that she had brought from the island left Clarke desiring nothing more than a lovely hot shower and a toilet with decent pluming. It was unlikely that she would have the first, but the bunker should be able to provide the latter.

“Okay, Octavia, what have you decided to do about Miller?” Clarke asked. “Unless you have decided to limit our interactions to radio contact and the odd visit while he is somewhere other than where any of my people will be.”

“No, I want you and Miller to be in a private room to talk it out, if you wouldn’t mind. I know you will be safe, from any attacks by him if we make sure that he is not armed. You could have Indra and Jackson there as referees if you want” Octavia said.

“To be honest I don’t particularly want to, but I guess there is no better choice if we want any chance to get over it” Clarke sighed. “When?”

“After lunch, if possible. I would like us to meet this morning to talk with all my advisors to discuss the options for our relocation. Although Miller will be at the meeting, traditionally he won’t talk, just listen and advise me later if he has something to say” Octavia said.

Clarke didn’t say anything about her doubts for Miller’s continued silence and thought that if he did manage to keep quiet then it was all likely to spew out in their private meeting. Maybe that would be for the best, let the pressure build up and then when safe, let it erupt.

“No, I saw no signs of life, anywhere except for Shallow Valley” Clarke said for what felt like the hundredth time. “I travelled all over the coalition lands and beyond except for most of Azgeda and the most prominent signs of life I found were a few burnt tree stumps. The best bet is to decide where you want to live and travel there looking for new signs of life – bugs mainly at the moment. Pull some soil samples for testing and if that doesn’t pan out, try somewhere else. You are not going to suddenly find another Eden, you will have to create one and it will take time so you will need to keep the farm going here for as long as possible and preserve what food you can save due to lower numbers. But you will need bugs to be in the soil and if they’re not there, then it’s probable that the soil is not ready to farm.”

“So how are you managing?” Cora, Kara, whatever asked.

“As soon as we realised we needed a place of our own we started to take plants from Shallow Valley in hit and run exercises and Monty worked out what we needed to do to make the soil fertile. When your soil, wherever it is, is prepped we will give you cuttings, off shoots, to help you start up, but other than a few berry bushes none of our trees will be giving us anything next year. They are investments so we have a two pronged farming policy, how not to starve now while we prepare for the future. That is why our people went back into space because we just didn’t have enough food to feed us all through the winter without breaking into our investments. The farm on the ship can feed 100 people which is why we invited some of yours to go as well. We can’t bring the farm down here because it needs a large power source that we don’t have. Becca kept a small supply of seeds so we hope we can grow some wheat next year, and we hope to transplant some plants from the Eligius farm. Because there are so few of us we will be able to offer you some of our yield, hopefully, without putting ourselves at risk.”

“What about meat? We grow soya but can’t grow meat?” Octavia said.

“Once we know that our animals are reproducing and we have sufficient to see that they will continue to thrive, we will endeavour to trade animals with you for something that you have that we will need. We don’t have a lot, though, so it will take time for them to flourish again.”

“What do you have?” asked Indra.

“Four deer, five boars, a dozen or so each of rabbits and chickens, and about 100 fish.”

The members from Wonkru muttered disappointedly at that news. Clarke guessed that they thought that they had more.

“It will be a long time before we will be able to trade deer, but the rabbits and chickens will be available year after next, and possibly the boars, too. We don’t know about the fish since they don’t seem to like their current accommodations and we don’t know when they will start to reproduce. We have an algae bar each day as our main source of protein. It’s not pleasant, but it means we don’t need to eat the investments. They hope to bring some soya plants back from the ship when they come down to give us a variation. I understand that Murphy is already experimenting with different ways to prepare and cook it. He is a very good cook, you know.”

“Murphy, a very good cook?” Octavia questioned.

“Yes. So far I’ve heard nothing but good reports about his efforts. I remember before Praimfaya being surprised at how delicious his meals were.”

The idea that food could be delicious as well as nutritious seemed to be a long forgotten concept to the people of Wonkru.

“So” Clarke tried to get the meeting back to the point, “where do you think you might want to settle? It would be helpful to try to have a look around before winter really sets in if possible.”

“I think somewhere between Polis and where you are would be best” Indra offered.

“Near the coast or inland?” Clarke persisted.

“Near the coast, but not on the coast” Octavia insisted.

Clarke looked at the old map and pointed to the area near the Delaware Bay. “Near there?”

“That looks reasonable, if the land is feasible” Octavia agreed.

“Okay, why don’t I take a team up there in the Rover tomorrow and we can have a look. There are no rivers or seas yet, but they will come and you will want to be near a good water source, I presume. We can have a quick look around to try to establish if the rivers would be likely to follow their old paths or choose new ones, it doesn’t matter in one respect, as long as you don’t settle where the river’s new path will be. Who is to come with me?”

Octavia thought for a moment. “Kara and Miller. You will be in charge and they will obey your orders.”

Clarke didn’t know whether Octavia was being very smart or very stupid with that move.

The meeting with Miller did not go as Clarke expected. In fact Clarke had no idea why he even bothered to turn up, Octavia must have ordered him to because he just came into the meeting room and said “I am sorry for taking my anger out on you by being rude. As I have been reminded, you know more about the land than anyone alive at the moment and I need to focus on being grateful that you are helping us. Is that it?”

“I’ll take it as long as it doesn’t happen again. See you tomorrow” Clarke said and left to go back to her rover and to radio Charmaine.

“Miller is planning something. I’m going out with him and Kara Cooper tomorrow to look at the soil near the Delaware Bay area. I’ll keep the radio open, one camera locked in the rover and another attached to me, if you can keep it mute so that nothing comes through from your end, record it so that if there is trouble I’ll have the evidence to go to Octavia after I kill him, Kara too if necessary. They don’t seem to know that I speak Trig so I expect there’ll be some trig spoken, get Madi or Marcus to translate for you. Have you picked up anything from the bug I planted?”

“Just Octavia reaming Miller for risking all their futures by antagonising you, and Kara suggesting they go to take our animal stock while everyone is in space and you are otherwise occupied. Octavia didn’t rule it out. I take it you didn’t tell them that we’ve left a contingent to look after them.”

“No, I wanted to see what happens. I also understated the numbers that we have. Call Echo and warn her to be prepared. Ask her not to kill anyone if she can help it, but if it comes to a choice between the animals or Wonkru then let Wonkru die.”

“Will do. You’ll be pleased to know that the talk amongst the Wonkru here is that they want to stay with us once we land again but they don’t think Octavia will allow it. We might be able to use that at some point. I’ve woken up two of my people. They were a little distraught at the happenings since they went into cryo, but so far they’re doing okay and completely agree that most of them cannot be woken since we have children. I’ve got Bellamy, Murphy and Marcus helping. They seem to relate better with Murphy. I think they could do with either Octavia or Echo to give them someone to fight and let off some steam with. There’s a good gym here that I’ll introduce them to shortly. I think Monty is in farmers’ heaven and enjoying teaching Ethan and Griff. Speaking of Ethan, he is walking around a lot better. Your mom and Raven are good for him. Madi is still training with him so that he can improve his balance and keep his defence strong. I think you’ll be amazed at the improvement when you see him next. Your boys are constantly asking everyone for stories about you, and I have to ask you how, even if only half of what Murphy says is true, how the hell are you still alive?”

Clarke laughed. It was so good to have a conversation with someone with whom she could relax.

Clarke insisted that both Kara and Miller sit in the back of the rover and do up their seat belts “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!” she told them as she peeled out from Polis.

It wasn’t long before Kara and Miller started their ‘secret’ conversation.

“Are you sure we should do it?” Kara asked. “Blodreina did not say that we should.”

“We make it look like an accident. One person dead isn’t going to make much difference and she has already made her contribution to the population so she isn’t needed any more. She is potentially a threat to Blodreina’s rule so she must go” Miller insisted. “Once she is gone Blodreina can rule over them all.”

“You know that Gaia also thinks her children could rule” Kara reminded Miller.

“They could not challenge Blodreina yet and by the time they are ready, Blodreina may wish to stand down, or she may wish to have them taken care of, I don’t care, as long as I never have to follow the orders of …” clearly he was wondering how he could refer to Clarke without giving it away that is was she about whom they were talking. “I follow only Blodreina.”

“Mom! Mom! Come in mom, over” a voice came over the radio.

“This is not their usual time to call me, something must be wrong: excuse me!” Clarke said as she pulled the rover to a halt.

“Blake, what’s up, over?” Clarke said, knowing which of her boys was calling.

“Mom, Madi kissed Ethan, over.”

Clarke took a second to gasp, almost in laughter before she started to talk again.

“Blake Augustus, what is the rule about telling tales on your siblings?”

There was a few seconds of silence before Clarke added “over”.

“Not to tell unless you not knowing would put someone in danger, but I have to tell you because if dad found out before you spoke to him then Ethan would be in danger, so you have to do something, over.”

Clarke thought for a second before accepting that she would indeed have to speak to their father. “Okay, can you get him and put him on the radio, please? Over.”

“Griff is getting him. We thought you should do it quickly. Here he is, love you mom, over.”

“Love you two, too. Bellamy, Madi is 12, nearly 13 and is starting to notice boys. You have to let her and not interfere. Only do something if Madi asks you to, otherwise leave her alone, over” Clarke knew that Bellamy was unaware of what was going on and would soon question her about it.

“What? What is going on that I have to not interfere with? What do you mean she is noticing boys? She’s just a child!”

“Bellamy, Madi kissed a boy and Griff and Blake think you might get a bit overprotective, so I’m telling you now not to. Let Madi grow up, help or advise if she asks for it otherwise leave it be, over and out.”

Clarke knew that Bellamy would want to talk more about it, and hopefully he would forget about it before their next catch up chat.

“Would Bellamy really do anything to Ethan just because he kissed Madi?” Kara asked.

“Probably not, I think it was just a way for Blake not to be in trouble for telling tales, but Bellamy did nearly kill Atom for making out with Octavia so he might feel a bit obliged to at least give him the stink eye. No doubt I’ll find out when I speak with Madi next. She is not going to be happy that Blake told on her. The joys of parenthood.”

“Why would Blake be in trouble for telling you?”

“The rule is that if it is something that I really didn’t need to know, then if one of them gets a punishment then they all do. It’s only if I find out by myself that just the perpetrator is punished, and if it’s confession, then the punishment is a lot less, usually just a talk through about what they did wrong. It means that as a general rule they don’t come tattling to me just to get the other into trouble.”

“I’m going to be rude and ask how you got pregnant when surely your implant should have worked?” Kara tried to keep the conversation going, perhaps to steer Miller’s mind away from murder.

“My implant probably ran out shortly after we landed and to be honest, I didn’t think about having to get it replaced. Surprised the radiation didn’t kill off the pregnancy, though. I was just very lucky, I guess. And they’re fraternal twins which is better than identical, easier, anyway. My admiration for Aurora Blake to hide a pregnancy, and to give birth silently, is immense.” Clarke hoped that reminding Miller that Octavia was nothing more than the human daughter of Aurora and sister of Bellamy, and that she’s a mother would help him realign his thinking. Clarke wasn’t holding her breath, though.

They reached the point that Octavia indicated on the map. It was very close to the Delaware river path so Clarke drove along the river bed to see if there were any new obstructions that would cause it to forge a new path.

“I think it will be fine once the rivers come again” Clarke said. “We’ll just double back so we can look at the soil. There’s a shovel in the back so we can dig down a bit if we need to.”

Clarke could see in the rear view mirror the looks that Kara and Miller exchanged and listened carefully for the verbal exchange.

“A perfect opportunity” Miller said. “We can make it look like she slipped and banged her head on a rock or something. Then we go and get their animals, or at least the ones that will fit in the back here, leave her people with something to come back to, if they’re still alive by the time they come back, but it won’t be our problem.”

“You know that Blodreina is not going to be happy about it” Kara pushed.

“But she will forgive. I have been loyal throughout everything and Blodreina values loyalty above all else. The gift of the animals will soothe her anger” Miller was adamant.

“I think you are wrong and if I have to face you in the pit for this I will kill you.”

Clarke thought that at least Kara would not attempt to murder her. She wondered if she would be able to not kill Miller; she really didn’t want to. There was so few of the 100 left that she didn’t want to have to take any of them out, but she could not risk her life, or that of her children because one idiot could not get over things: and she didn’t even know what things she had done that he couldn’t get over!

“Right here we are. I’ve marked our location on the map. Can you get the tools out and we’ll have a look and dig around?” Clarke said as she noticed Miller’s smirk and the shake of Kara’s head. He really was going to do it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallout begins from Miller's desire to kill Clarke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the purpose of this story, major characters are Clarke, Bellamy, Madi, Blake, Griff, Octavia and Charmaine. I could include the rest of the original Spacekru 7, but the rest are up for grabs - sorry.

Clarke heard the swish of the shovel, and the indrawn breath of Kara, and quickly turned and dodged Miller’s swing.

“Do you have a death wish or something?” Clarke asked as she dodged another of Miller’s swipes.

“No, I just want you dead, so why don’t you do us all a favour and just die?” he said as he tried again.

This time Clarke dodged back and pulled out one of her knives that she threw at Miller’s shoulder. He yelped, dropped the shovel and went to pull the knife out; only Clarke threw another knife at his other shoulder. Miller was left with two useless arms.

“Leave them in or you will bleed out” Clarke said without any feeling. She took the shovel, and keeping one eye on Miller, moved a little closer to the rover and started to dig. She didn’t need to dig far to see the difference in the soil: it looked good. She took a sample. Then she moved a few yards away and did the same thing. All in all Clarke took five soil samples.

“What are you going to do with him?” Kara asked.

“Hand him over to Octavia: he’s her man and it’s up to her what she does with him. I’ll just make sure he is still alive when he gets there. Are you going to tell her the truth or plead ignorance?”

“A mixture of both because I really didn’t think he would actually do it; Blodreina will be fuming and I never thought he would go against what she wants” Kara said.

“Hmph. You’ll have to sit in the front for the return” Clarke said as she planned the best way to secure him and return to Polis with Miller still alive.

Clarke stopped the rover just on the outskirts of Polis and told Kara and Miller to get out and walk the rest of the way. “I’m going back home to analyse these samples. Tell Octavia I’ll radio her tomorrow with the results. Oh, and tell Jackson and Octavia that I want my knives back” Clarke yelled as she drove away. 

“You really are an idiot” Kara said. “Clarke has already shown that she is a good fighter, prepared, and you risk everything for the chance to have one over on her. What are you going to tell Blodreina?”

“I’ll tell her that Clarke attacked me for no good reason. I was just bringing the equipment and she attacked. Blodreina trusts me” Miller said smugly.

“I won’t back you up. I will say that I didn’t see, but it will be a case of he said, she said, and I hope that even if she believes you it will not mean war, because then none of us will win. Your little stunt may well have cost us all our lives, you idiot” Kara was not impressed.

Miller in his little world of being Blodreina’s most trusted guard could not see any way by which he would not be believed and that Blodreina would not want vengeance. With the rest of her kru up in space, now would be the perfect time to take the land and animals and make Clarke Griffin’s death look like an accident. The pain in his shoulders and arms would be well worth such an outcome.

“Your shoulders will ache in the cold. You will probably never have the fine motor skills for your fingers again; but you are lucky that she aimed for your shoulders and not your heart” Jackson said as he contemplated that Miller was no longer his Nate, his love. Not for one second did he believe that Clarke attacked him for no reason. He fully expected that Clarke only acted in self defence and she would have been well within her rights to have used lethal force to stop him. 

Jackson shook his head in pity for the loss of his friend, the loss of his love, and the loss of the closeness within the top tier of Wonkru. As far as he could see, there was only one possible outcome: the death of Nathan Miller. Jackson let a tear slip through because he realised that Nate Miller had died a long time ago and Miller was not letting him back. At least Blodreina was trying to regain some of Octavia’s optimism, keeping part of her goodness alive.

Octavia was fuming. She did not believe Miller’s story, nor did she believe Kara when she said that she had no idea what happened since she didn’t see anything. But it would be Wonkru’s words against Wanheda’s and she knew who her people would believe first. Unless there was a miracle, she would have to lead her people into destroying Wanheda and she didn’t think that would come without massive loss of life. ‘Damn him to hell for putting me in this position’ Octavia thought and got on the radio to Clarke.

“Hello, Octavia” Clarke said. “What’s his story?”

Octavia told Clarke about Miller’s story and how Kara saw nothing. Clarke snorted at that since the recordings clearly show that Kara saw everything; but Octavia was not in a position to see the recordings, she could hear the audio though.

“Call Indra, Jackson, Miller, Kara and a couple of other who you trust and have the trust of your people and I’ll play you the audio of the recordings I made. You said that they would obey my orders but I knew Miller wanted me dead so I planted some recorders, on me and in the rover. Don’t tell Kara and Miller that; let them hear. I had Madi translate the trig for me.”

Octavia did as Clarke suggested knowing that it would mean that she would have a couple of very difficult decisions to make in the very near future.

Clarke played the recordings over the radio of Miller and Kara’s conversation in the rover and what was said when he attacked her with the shovel. There was silence in the room. Kara knew she was in trouble and only hoped that it would not be fatal, but if she had to fight Miller in the pit, she would win since he was injured so there was that.

“What do you want to do Clarke? It is you they wronged so the punishment should be your choice” Octavia said.

“You can’t!” Miller exclaimed. “I did it for you!”

“Indra” Clarke called over the radio. “Gustus!”

Those formerly of the coalition knew what Clarke was saying, or they thought they did.

Indra took the radio and on being told what to do asked “Are you saying that Miller should suffer death by a thousand cuts with Blodreina to deliver the final cut?”

“No. I’m saying that he should not be excused punishment because he did it for his leader. I am opposed to death by a thousand cuts. In fact, unless there is no other choice, I am opposed to the death penalty because it does not give the victim of the crime recompense, but if death is the only considered option, then it does no one any good to make it torture. If I wanted him dead, he would be dead.”

“Then what are you saying should be their punishment, Wanheda?” Indra asked, then quietly apologised to Octavia for overstepping her boundaries and handed the mic back to her queen.

“For going against your orders, if he actually was, rather than going beyond your orders, Octavia, I think the punishment should be entirely up to you, as should the punishment to both of them for lying to you. As to recompense for the attempt on my life and the theft of my kru’s animals, and presumably the rover, then I should like to ask something a little different from Kara. I should like Kara to be the surrogate for three successful pregnancies. The impregnation, the gestation and delivery will all be done here. Kara may return to her people for a period of six months between pregnancies. She will be released and forgiven once she had gone through three successful pregnancies with the resulting children handed over to the parents from my people. Whilst she is pregnant and if she nurses for a while, Kara will be treated like a queen here. We would not object to her carrying out light duties if you require her to do some work while here, like weaving, carving or food prep, skills that could be used by your people. I need to think more about Miller. I have punished him for the attempt on my life, I need to think about what recompense he could make.”

Everyone couldn’t decide if they were horrified or impressed with Clarke’s words. Octavia decided to be impressed. “Two pregnancies and I’ll have Jackson remove her implant” Octavia declared. Kara knew better than to argue.

“Two pregnancies it is. I’ll return to collect her in seven days’ time. I’ll have decided what I want from Miller then, if he’s still alive, or you could let me know if you have any ideas. On the soil front, it looks good. A bit wet, but it is the time of year for that. I’ll go and see if I can find an underground water source otherwise it will be collect and save until the rivers return; at least it rains a lot all year round. Speak to you later, over and out.” 

“You lied to me, both of you bare faced lied to me” Octavia let her anger show. “You put us on the brink of war, one we have no chance of winning, and you lied to me about it. If I hadn’t called Clarke on the radio first before attacking I expect a bomb would have landed on the bunker and another on the army marching to war. Why would you risk that, Kara?”

“I informed Wanheda that I would say I saw nothing so that I did not have to speak out against Miller. I trust Wanheda enough that she would do her best to make sure that war did not result, although I accepted there was a chance that she would not be successful” Kara was contrite.

“And you, Miller; you said it was for me but how could having to go to war possibly be for me?”

“I did not believe that if she didn’t radio in every so often a bomb would be sent, Bellamy would not let any harm befall you: but Blodreina, she could be a competitor for your leadership, I know some have already suggested she should lead us. I could not allow you to be usurped. I have to protect you and your position. I lied because I wanted you to declare war on her.”

Octavia sighed and wondered why she did not confide in Miller her thoughts. “I had already offered the leadership of Wonkru to Clarke. She turned me down and offered her help in establishing a separate village instead. That is why she is here instead of with her family. I had promised her that she would be safe from you Miller because I had asked you to apologise to her and to let your anger go and you said you did that and I trusted you. As well as lying to me, you made me a liar too. I can never forgive that. You will suffer the same fate as Bellamy did on the Arc, you are hereby stripped of the rank of guard and will henceforth be the janitor. Whatever recompense Clarke asks of you, I will order you to give it. Return to med bay until Jackson deems you fit for your new duties.”

Miller opened his mouth as if to argue, but a look from his Queen stopped him. Miller nodded and left, expecting his love to accompany him, not knowing that Jackson had already said goodbye to their relationship.

After a while of being alone, Miller realised that he was exactly that: alone. He looked around and spotted a knife that was big enough for him to use, yet sharp enough to be effective. With much painful manoeuvring he was able to wedge the knife so that when he bent down he would be able to stab himself through his carotid. That is what he did.

Jackson returned half an hour later to find Miller’s body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for those who love Miller. I adored S1 Miller but S5 Miller scared the living daylights out of me. Not sure how I feel about S6 Miller.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More resources are found on earth and things are happening in space that have Clarke very angry.

When Octavia informed Clarke of Miller’s death Clarke’s immediate thought was to try to milk him. When Octavia said that no females in Wonkru were currently fertile, Clarke suggested Gaia who had never used contraception because she never planned to be intimate with a man. Octavia agreed to speak to both Gaia and Jackson. Although it was not the ideal time for Gaia to get pregnant, she agreed to try since she had previously respected Miller’s loyalty and thought that he would make a very good contributor to her child.

Because she did everything as advised to aid conception over a three day period Gaia did become pregnant. She was immediately treated as special and all her dietary requests were met, either by the bunker or by transfer from Becca’s Town.

Kara was impregnated with two embryo’s conceived using Echo’s eggs and Egan’s sperm. Egan said that he would be very happy to raise the child as a single parent. Kara, although carrying a child that she would have to give up, was quite content to stay at Becca’s Town since the number of Clarke’s people who did not go to space was so small they were all able to live in the relative luxury of Becca’s house. Kara was almost in clover.

Echo, however, had realised that she was being unfair to Bellamy about never giving him a child and agreed to talk to him about it before suggesting that another surrogate be found to carry any children with her genes. She was most adamant, though, that the only child she would help raise was one from both her and Bellamy. Clarke wasn’t too sure how Echo would react if she, Clarke died and Bellamy wanted to raise their sons. Would she really not help Bellamy raise them?

Clarke could not find an underground well in the area that Octavia had chosen to settle her people. It meant, as Clarke already said, that they would have to collect rain water and store it. Octavia gave different people tasks to plan; taking account of the resources they had including the making of water storage tanks that would hold gallons of the liquid. The most difficult would be home building with no trees. The conclusion was that using the large flat stones from fallen buildings would be best to build walls with metal panels for roofs. Octavia asked Clarke if she would be willing to lend them the truck to move the stones and panels. Clarke agreed subject to being given details of their plan if it turns out to be successful. The next most difficult plan was for heating with no trees. Octavia agreed that they would have to take the risk of going to the valley to get some timber to burn for fires. Clarke agreed that they could use the truck for some excursions but they would have to make every effort to check that they carried no worm eggs in the truck because if Clarke or any of her people found one egg, they would not loan out the truck again.

Another idea from Wonkru was the collection of glass pieces from the desert that could be melted to make windows. Clarke agreed to transport up to two people from Wonkru and any containers for glass they collected for at least a few visits since she wanted to do the same with one of her men. Knowing about the sand worms, sand storms and the best place for glass pieces meant that they were able to get in, sift and collect and get out in a day trip. It was dusty and horrible work, but as Clarke said, the temperature dropped so much when the sun set that they could not stay once night fell; so in order to keep recharging the rover’s batteries they could only work for about four hours each day. Those who did the work agreed that it was more than long enough and wondered how Clarke was able to stay awake in order to drive back to Polis each day.

On their third trip they got caught in a sand storm. It wasn’t as vicious as the storms that occurred in summer, but it was enough to keep them in the rover overnight. Clarke’s insistence that they should always be prepared and have extra water, rations and warm bedding paid off. They were able to remove the solar panels and store them safely in the rover while the storm raged. It was a very snug fit for the four of them to sleep in the rover, store the glass collected and keep the solar panels safe but it was better than being outside in it. Luckily they were able to use the radio to warn their people what was happening and to let them know when it was over and that they were safe.

Clarke was disappointed when Raven told her how much glass would be needed for one window. She realised that she would have to make a number of visits to get the necessary glass to put just two windows in each house they needed. Clarke mentally shrugged and thought that the best thing she could do was to just get on with the collections when the weather allowed. When the others returned in spring then someone could take the truck and maybe camp out over a night or two. Clarke then had the idea that she could bring the truck next time and the people of Wonkru could just fill the back up with sand and then more people could sift it looking for glass if it was all just dumped near to the bunker; perhaps that would keep a few more of them employed. She suggested it to Octavia who immediately agreed. Clarke only sifted enough glass herself to fill one bowl on each of those trips, but she didn’t mind since it all added up.

Without Miller, no one from Wonkru could drive so Clarke made a point to teach two people. When they wanted to move the stones from Polis to where they planned their settlement, someone would have to drive the truck carrying the stones, and Clarke would have to drive the rover carrying the people who would be unloading the stone so that the truck would not have to bear the full weight.

Given that the weather was more likely to be bad than good, and unless they were very lucky, the very heavily loaded truck would get bogged down in the wet mud, Clarke declared that they had to stop their trips for a while. They could resume when the ground was frozen, but not covered in snow. It took a lot for Clarke to persuade Octavia that she could forecast the weather for the next day, but not beyond so they could only plan for one day ahead. Octavia’s frustration was feeding into Clarke’s sorrow at not being with her children and they were getting more irritated with each other as the seemingly long winter wore everyone down.

It was during a week of silence between Clarke and Octavia when Charmaine radioed with some very strange and welcome news. “There’s some life forms big enough to be picked up on the eye in Eden, in the mountains.”

“Mountain goats!” Clarke exclaimed. “I guess the worms never made it up to the peaks of the mountains where the goats liked to live. I’ll talk to Octavia to try to arrange a trip to capture them. It means risking the life of a rabbit again, but the payback would be enormous.”

“Yeah, the choice between a rabbit or a couple of goats, I’m going with the goats. How will you split them between us and Wonkru?”

“Depends on how many and genders, but I would want at least one of each gender and I guess they’re the same, although it would be better to have more nannies than billys.”

“Well I reckon there’s about a dozen of them so we should at least manage that” Charmaine comforted Clarke.

Octavia was delighted that Wonkru might be able to have some livestock of their own. Clarke highlighted the risks, emphasised the safety precautions she would insist upon and that even then there could be no guarantee that they would be successful in their quest, but Octavia would not be deterred.

The truck was slightly modified so that the rear section was almost completely sealed up once the back flap was closed. There were certainly no gaps big enough for a worm to get through even though it wasn’t airtight. Clarke insisted that they drive down the old coast route and bypassed the desert with the worms. They would enter the valley from the south and drive up the mountain pass, although they would probably not be able to drive as far as they would prefer. It would take a lot longer, but it would be a lot safer.

They saw 14 goats and were able to tranquilise 13 of them. They had to be carried, as high as they could be lifted down the mountain to the truck. Only 11 made it without being attacked by the worms. Still, it was 11 more than they had earlier: five for Clarke and her people, six for Wonkru. Octavia wasn’t happy with the split but Clarke pointed out that they wouldn’t have any if it wasn’t for her people and that they would be giving other things to them.

Wonkru were exasperated with Clarke’s safety checks to make sure they picked up and carried no worm eggs away from the valley. Clarke felt vindicated when the rabbit was attacked by a worm that hatched from an egg in the undercarriage. Because of the mesh protecting the rabbit, it survived completely unaware that its life was at risk as Clarke used the fire lighter from the house to kill the worm. Only when Clarke was satisfied that there were no more eggs did she allow everyone to remove their suits. It was a lesson on how careful they would have to be when they went back for timber for the following winter. Clarke thought that one or two of her people would have to accompany them in the rover so that she knew the proper safety precautions would be taken. It had the added bonus that her people could look for small saplings or berry bushes that would be easy to check for worm eggs. As a sop to Octavia, Clarke could offer to split the bounty they could carry in the rover half and half. It would give Wonkru something to start their plantation with.

The next unexpected radio call with Charmaine required Madi to make a confession to Clarke at Charmaine’s insistence: two of the Wonkru people were talking to Madi about the possibility of her becoming Commander and taking the flame. “They made it sound so good” Madi ended with.

Clarke sighed and was so grateful to Charmaine for picking up on it. “Madi, did they tell you that the flame stopped the previous Commanders from being able to sleep without nightmares?”

“Noooo” Madi didn’t like the way the conversation was going.

“Did they tell you that you would constantly have the voices of all the past Commanders in your head?”

“No” this time Madi was more resigned.

“Did they tell you that one of those voices would be mine?”

“Ew, no.”

“And did they tell you that with the power of the Commander came the responsibility to always put your people first, before your need to sleep, your need love your brothers, to make them, your people, do something they might not want to do for their own sake like Octavia forcing her people to eat the flesh of their kinsmen, to never be able settle down with a love of your own, to know that the only way to remove you is to kill you so the average age that the Commander’s die is 22?”

“No, they didn’t tell me any of that stuff” Madi was appalled.

“This is why I don’t want it for you, or for the boys. When you are 18, I will be happy to talk to you again about it so that you can decide for yourself, fully aware of the cost you would be paying if you were to become the Commander. But I really do not want you to consider it, or let anyone talk to you about it until you are at least 18 when you can make an informed adult decision about it.”

“Yeah, I get it, I do. One of the reasons they said I should become the Commander was so that I could relieve you of your burden, which must be that much heavier for you since you were not properly schooled and did not have the benefit of the flame” Madi explained.

“Well I was brought up to lead from my first breath so don’t you worry about that. Also, I have had the flame and I find it easier to lead without all the voices advocating the violent or aggressive choice, only Lexa and to a lesser degree, Becca, would advocate a peaceful solution that might take longer to settle than one that could be settled as quickly as it takes to kill someone with your sword. I always think that it very short sighted” Clarke pushed further.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Clarke. Love you, bye.” 

“Thank you for picking up on that Charmaine. I will clearly have to have further words with Gaia. How is everything else going up there?” Clarke asked.

“Well I have to admit that Bellamy is proving to be better with Blake and Griff than I thought he would be. You know I was shocked when I discovered that you and he were not a couple given your reunion when we first landed …”

‘Not as shocked as I was, I bet’ Clarke mentally interrupted.

“… but when I saw how you all interacted I could see the distance between you and the others and how empty Bellamy appeared to be compared to how he was when I first saw him; but now, now he seems to be getting that life back into his eyes and I see the man I thought he was before. I admit, I don’t know what will happen when we return, or what it will mean for your relationship with him, or even Echo’s relationship with him, but I see a lovely relationship developing between him and your boys.”

“Charmaine, I don’t think you realise how happy that make me. Bellamy and I, if we’re really lucky, will get to have a close friendly relationship but that is as far as it will ever go. As to Bellamy and Echo, I couldn’t give two hoots about what it means for them as long as it doesn’t somehow compromise the safety of our people, especially the children.”

“Okay then. On a different note, I’m surprised that there have been no radio calls for Ethan from anyone. Is that something we should be concerned about?”

Clarke thought for a moment and decided: “I think it is something to be concerned about but I don’t know if anyone from Wonkru would do so. I’ll have a chat with Indra and try to casually mention it. Does Ethan seem at all concerned that no one has asked to speak to him?”

“No, and I think that is also something a bit iffy. He appears to be too cheerful for someone who has been all but abandoned by his people” Charmaine had the exact same worries as Clarke.

“Okay, get Raven or Shaw to doubly check for radio signals that are not us. I’ll wait to hear from you before I speak to Indra, unless when we talk it somehow comes up. Remember, rest and keep your blood pressure stable. It’s not long now before we get to meet Hope; see you soon.”

It took two days for Charmaine to call Clarke back with her findings: Ethan did have a secret radio and he was in conversation with Octavia. Charmaine played the recording of the single conversation Shaw had captured.

“No, Blodreina, they do let me go on the bridge. Access to the bridge is with secure entry and the person going in has to press some numbers on a pad for the door to open. The sign is clear that it is entry to authorised personnel only so I could not claim to get lost.”

“Can you ask Madi? How is the courtship going?” Octavia asked.

“Madi shows no interest in going on the bridge. She likes to spend time with Charmaine, the twins and in the med bay. She occasionally sits in the observation window, usually just after she has talked to Clarke. When I tried to suggest we ask to go on the Bridge she asked me why we would want to do that and I couldn’t think of a good answer. The boys and Bellamy seem to be in a pact to stop me getting too much alone time with Madi so it is harder to try to talk her into doing things she doesn’t want to do, or has no reason to do” Ethan sounded down.

“I know you are both very young, but flatter her when you’re kissing her, you won’t need to do more than that to get her on your side and ignore Bellamy, Madi hates him so she is likely to do what you want if it is something he tells her not to do. Find a way to get the boys to tell him” Octavia advised.

“They already told him that they caught us kissing and nothing happened.”

“Damn, I was so sure he would go all protective and forbid her from seeing you; guaranteed you would then become her most favourite person. Keep trying. I need as much information as you can get on the weapon control systems. Do any of our people go on the Bridge?”

“None. Most of Clarke’s people don’t even go.”

“Okay, we can’t use any of them then. Keep trying; you have a few more weeks. Speak tomorrow. Out” and the call was ended.

Clarke sighed a deep sigh of unsurprised betrayal. “I’m going to talk to Octavia tomorrow. We can keep an open mic so you can record it and if anything happens you can bomb them into oblivion. In the meantime, put Ethan in lock up, take his radio and if Madi or anyone gives you grief over it play them the recording of the conversation and if they’re still upset, tell them to talk to me about it and only me. Look out for warning signs from the rest and keep searching for other signals, just in case.”

“Okay, but there is one thing you should know, there is no sign saying Authorised Personnel Only so I think Ethan was trying not to betray us” Charmaine said.

“Very well, tell him that he is in lock up temporarily, just until I’ve spoken to Octavia and we’re satisfied that he has no more radios hidden amongst his belongings or anywhere else. I’ll speak to Madi, with you present just in case I miss a lie, and ask if she has anything that anyone from Wonkru has given her to look after. I’ll also ask the boys, they’re crap at lying so even from this distance it should be obvious if they’re lying, but have Bellamy there for that conversation. Get Murphy and Emori to help but bug all the rooms that Wonkru use. We need to know what we’re dealing with. Maybe we will end up going with Murphy’s plan; kill them all with kindness!”

“Clarke, I wasn’t expecting you today” Octavia said when Clarke turned up at the bunker.

“No, we need to talk” Clarke had her serious face. “Charmaine, is everything set up?”

“We can hear you loud and clear” Charmaine said over the radio. “The Eye is set up to watch and the bombs are locked and loaded. Give us the right word and off they go, or don’t give us the word at the right time, off they go regardless. It’s a win win for me.”

Octavia and the people with her were starting to look worried. “What the hell is this all about, Clarke? Why are you threatening us with bombs? I thought we were supposed to be allies.”

“You know, I thought that we were too until it suddenly occurred to me that you hadn’t bothered to ask to speak to Ethan at all. Someone you were so attached to, but you couldn’t be bothered to spare him a few minutes every couple of days. Then Charmaine said how happy he appeared to be and, you know, it just didn’t ring true. Ethan is now in lock up, the rest of your people up there are on lock down and as soon as they come back to earth they will be brought back to you and as far as we are concerned that’s it. We’ll just make use of the Eligius still in cryo to get our population growing. You ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. I now question how much of Miller’s actions were entirely through his own choice and how much were led by you.”

Octavia sat at her desk and fumed. She knew when she decided to do it she was taking a risk. The only thing she could do now was to brazen it out. “So you caught him. Well, you might as well keep him because Wonkru has no use of a one legged freak who cannot do anything to provide for his people since he won’t learn anything in lock up.”

“What did you do?” Indra asked Octavia.

“It matters not, it didn’t work” Octavia was blasé.

“Not only did he not find anything of use to report to you, if you had let him be, he would have learned a great deal about farming, knowledge that you lack so your lack of trust or your greed as led you to lose knowledge that you need, and allies who would have been happy to help you thrive. I hope you are happy with yourself, Octavia. I won’t see you again, I shouldn’t imagine. Goodbye” Clarke said as she turned to leave.

“This is all your fault!” Octavia shouted. “I wanted to give the command of Wonkru over to you but no, you wouldn’t take it. Is Wonkru not good enough for you, Princess?”

For a brief second Clarke thought about responding but decided that it just wasn’t worth it and walked out.

“Wanheda Clarke” Indra called. “What did she do?” Indra asked as the sounds of Octavia throwing a tantrum behind the closed door could be clearly heard.

“Walk with me, I’m not hanging around” Clarke said as she carried on walking. Once clear of the bunker Clarke said “Ethan was spying on Eligius and trying to seduce Madi into getting him into places that he was not allowed on Octavia’s orders. He had a radio that he was using to report to her. She particularly wanted to know about our weapons. Don’t know why because I don’t think you’ve got any tech heads with you.”

“What will you do now?” Indra asked.

“I will trade with you, but our security will be overwhelming; but to be honest, you need so much and we need nothing. We want some things from you, but we don’t need them. Do you think she meant it about us keeping Ethan? He is going to be devastated if she did” Clarke asked.

“I think if you could find a way to let him live with you he would be safer than living with Wonkru, certainly in the short term.”

“I don’t know about that” Clarke murmured. “If my daughter’s heart is broken because he led her on on the orders of Octavia, I cannot guarantee his safety with my people either. On another issue, some people are talking to Madi about the flame and the possibility of her becoming Commander. Tell Gaia that Madi will only consider the issue once she has turned 18 years: that is in five more years’ time. As someone who has had the flame, I will be there for all the discussions, offering a different perspective. One of the reasons used to try to persuade Madi to take the flame was that I had no schooling in leadership and she could then relieve me of the burden. I have the help of others who have plenty of experience in leading, and I listen to their guidance, and I don’t think I do too badly at the job so that argument is never going to work, not even when Madi turns 18.”

“I think you are a great leader of your people Wanheda. I regret that you did not feel able to take over the command of Wonkru” Indra said as she offered Clarke her arm to clasp.

Clarke took the arm and said “I would never have been safe, and neither would my family, but I am proud that you consider me worthy. May we meet again, Indra.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things move slowly now that Clarke has broken diplomatic relations with Wonkru. Questions are raised about Octavia's leadership

Clarke drove back to Becca’s Town where she would spend the rest of winter. The only worry she did have, was how to merge the DNA from Wonkru with her own people, and keep the children so that their numbers would increase.

Back at Becca’s Town Clarke told everyone, well everyone staying at the house, what transpired. No one seemed surprised except Kara. Clarke looked at her and raised a questioning brow.

“I know that Ethan worships the ground Blodreina walks on. He is very similar to Miller in that respect and would do anything she asked of him. I’m not surprised that she asked someone, including Ethan, to try to get information but I am surprised that she went to all the effort to give him a radio to report to her instead of waiting until they all returned and asking for a full report then. I think the others were probably tasked with finding out certain things, like Madi’s willingness to join Wonkru and become the Commander; how many other people you have in cryo; what technology you will be bringing back to earth, that sort of thing. I don’t understand why Ethan was the one she gave the radio to in order to report back to her.”

“Perhaps she knew that Ethan would do all that he could while she thought the others would do a half hearted spying job” Echo suggested.

“We may never know her reasons but there are 283 in cryo, actually, there’s fewer since some are being woken up and will be brought down with the others. I’ll talk to Charmaine, but we may decide to wake more now that we can’t plan on mixing DNA with Wonkru. We were hoping to wake them over a longer period of time, but we’ll see. If only Octavia had talked to me. I would have answered her. I might not, actually I probably wouldn’t have, told her the whole truth, but I wouldn’t lie. As I told Indra, we will still be willing to trade, but we have to make sure all our people are safe. Wonkru has more needs than we have wants so it will take Wonkru a lot longer to thrive than it would otherwise have done so. Stupid, stupid Octavia” Clarke lamented.

Kara was beginning to think that she had tied herself to the wrong clan, but she knew she would not be able to switch allegiance, at least not yet and be safe. She wondered how she could extend her stay at Becca’s Town without arousing any suspicions within Octavia. Perhaps lying about a successful birth, Clarke would have to be willing to co-operate, and it would be a hard thing to do, to give up her own child, but for nine months to a year of living in peace, knowing that the child would be loved and wanted, she could do it. She would have to speak with Clarke. 

Clarke spoke to Charmaine to let her know what had happened.

“Well you knew that Octavia tended to be a little short sighted, never looking to the long game” Charmain said. “It is a horrible thing to trade in, but we could trade for their DNA if we can’t work out a way to make peace with them soon. In the meantime, we just make the most of what we do have, mixing and matching as it comes up. We have a few years before it comes essential for us. It’s possible that Wonkru will have to surrender to us before it becomes necessary for us to turn nasty to get what we need.”

Clarke agreed but there was a bad enough taste in her mouth making Kara go through two pregnancies without actually requiring people to give up their own children. She had no problem with steering people in the direction she wanted/needed them to go but she never wanted to force people to giving up sovereignty of their own DNA. Just like Octavia forced her people to eat the flesh of their clansmen because she believed it to be necessary; she, Clarke, would force Octavia’s people into surrendering their children if she believes it to be necessary.

Ethan was devastated at being told that Octavia said that he should stay with Spacekru. Clarke tried to tell him that as long as he would treat her and her people with honour then they would love to have him stay, but she didn’t think that he believed her. Charmaine said that she would get Monty to work on him, try to get Monty and Harper to adopt him the way Clarke adopted Madi. Charmaine also pointed out that Madi was allowed one free hit on Ethan for playing with her emotions and trying to sway her loyalties. No doubt it would take time to heal that rift.

Winter passed slowly for the people on Becca’s island. It didn’t take much work to look after the animals and farm or to keep the accommodations clean and tidy. The food was tasty and nutritious, if a bit repetitive, and there was really nothing to do but just get through. Lots of card games were played for impossible riches. Not surprisingly, once she got the hang of poker, Echo proved to be a most adept player: no one ever knew if she was bluffing or not. Everyone bar Kara would have regular radio conversations with their people up in space and everyone bar Kara looked forward to the arrival of spring and the return of their loved ones.

In the Polis bunker everything was different: it was cold and miserable and the people had nothing to do. Octavia seemed to have given up on the idea of everyone moving to Delaware and gave no further instructions or guidance on how they might prepare for the future. Indra decided that it was time for her to take control.

“Blodreina, Octavia” Indra thought that it was best to start off on the right foot and wished she had not succumbed to the habit of calling Octavia by her assumed title. “We need to get over the loss of support from Clarke and plan for our future. It will be harder, yes, but we can still do it with leadership. If you are not able to be a leader at the moment, I will issue instructions and orders in your name until you are ready to pick up the mantle again. The loss of Miller will explain your current malaise.”

Indra waited for the half hoped for fireworks, the anger that would show that Octavia was still there: it was brief.

“Are you saying you don’t think that I am fit to keep control of Wonkru? The kru that I pulled together; the kru that I saved?” Octavia growled.

“At this moment in time you are not. You need a break. Octavia, you are human and you have reached your breaking point. Let me lead until the end of winter when you should be back and ready to take control” Indra tried to cajole. “Your people need leadership more than ever and currently they have none” she went with an added touch of bluntness.

“Fine, do whatever you want” Octavia muttered, and then, something that Indra really did not understand the significance of added “whatever the hell you want” and snorted.

“Thank you; I won’t let you down again” Indra added while Octavia wondered when had Indra ever let her down? “If you agree, I will continue to plan for us to settle near Ware because we know the soil will be fertile there.” Octavia nodded her head to agree, what else could she do? “I will get the people to start dismantling everything they can in the bunker sorting out thing into three categories: what we need; what we can re-purpose; and what we can trade. I believe that Clarke will trade for more beds and bedding and we need to think about what would be most useful to us.”

“Thank you, Indra. You are right as always. I think we can easily give up 100 beds and sets of bedding in the first instance, up to 200 if necessary. We need the others for the same reason Clarke wants them: to use as framework for buildings and the mattresses to either be insulation, or seats or beds. We need use of the truck to move us to Delaware and to make trips to Shallow Valley to try to safely get wood. We cannot expect to all move until after next winter, but perhaps small groups, taking it in turns, can spend time there working and preparing for us all to move.”

“Thank you for the advice. I shall get a group together to start to plan how to build using metal and stone only. I shall also negotiate to have Kara and Monty come to check over the farm here every quarter since we need to make sure it can feed us for another year. With so few of us we are able to make preserves for when the hard times come again. Be well, Octavia, for although the hard times will come again, so will the good. Wonkru will prevail; we just have to find a way to deal with the new enemy” and at Octavia’s clear questioning look, “ignorance, especially ignorance of peace”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a short chapter, the next one is too, I suppose I could have merged them into one, but never mind. I was hoping the time passing but with nothing going on would come across as a bit depressing for all. It made me feel a bit down reading it!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke reaches out to Wonkru in the hope of forming a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Clarke was not too surprised to receive a radio call from Indra to say that she was temporarily in charge of Wonkru. She was, however, pleasantly surprised when Indra asked for Kara and Monty to check over their farm every quarter and in exchange they would lend Clarke a person who could teach them how to milk the goats, make cheese and butter, and how to make yarn from their hair.

“Thank you, Indra. I will agree to five two day visits by Monty, and Kara if she is with us at those times, and for that I will receive two five day visits from someone able to teach my people those skills. I will be in touch to arrange transport at the time. It’s good doing business with you.”

Indra smiled and thought that Clarke didn’t know the half of it yet. Wonkru had a blacksmith who she was sure could be of benefit to Clarke’s kru, but then it was also possible that their smith would learn much from their people about other uses for metal. That would surely just be a by-product so she would focus on asking for something specific, maybe use of the truck.

It turned out that Clarke refused to use the smith until such a time as they had wood a plenty to burn. Indra wasn’t too happy at being shown how she was still lacking full understanding of their situation, but she was mollified by Clarke’s agreement to receive lessons from the smith in a few years’ time, and thanked Indra for the thought.

Clarke made the next attempt at forming a connection: she radioed to say that she was going to attempt another run to Shallow Valley, using the rover rather than the truck because of its manoeuvrability, to try to find small saplings and berry bushes. She would go the long route down the coastal road and enter the valley from the south again. Clarke offered to take one person from Wonkru with her, preferably one with whom she could share the driving. Indra agreed.

The person Clarke collected, Kochi, was not known to her and required some driving lessons before she could take over to do the driving. Clarke pointed out some large tubs that were in the back that they could use to put soil and secure any saplings that wouldn’t withstand the journey otherwise, half for Wonkru and half for Clarke.

Clarke reiterated the safety measures needed and that she would countenance no shortcuts. Kochi said that she lost her chosen to the worms when Wonkru first marched to the valley and she heard the tales of what they did to him. She would follow Wanheda Clarke’s instructions.

The long journey passed surprisingly pleasantly for Clarke; she could not answer for how Kochi felt about it, but she didn’t seem to be upset, bored, angry or resentful. Kochi seemed to be content and it was a state of mind that Clarke envied.

When they were about to enter the valley Clarke insisted they both get suited up and check for any tears. They found one small hole in Clarke’s suit that was soon taped up. They set off and drove just a short distance into the valley.

“It’s expanding” Clarke said. “When I first worked out the size of the fertile area, it was a lot smaller than it is now. The rate of regrowth has sped up. We might have to try to find a way to get rid of the worms and their eggs, even if it means burning this place to the ground so that it can regrow again. The difficulty will be in making sure that we get all the eggs.”

“Why can’t we just leave it?” Kochi asked.

“We have many years before it becomes critical, but it might be easier to address it while it is still relatively small, but eventually, this will reach the areas where we settle and it will be so much harder to control people and the movement of our animals. They could bring the eggs and worms to us, or rather our descendants. If I can, I would like to prevent that from happening. Monty and Kara are probably the ones who will know best. Come on, let’s get our tubs out and put some soil in them. Don’t forget to be careful to make sure you don’t tear your suit on the bushes etc and to check the soil for eggs and worms. The problem is that soil should have some normal worms, just not the sand worms. If you’re not sure, don’t let it in.”

They set to putting a shallow layer of soil in their tubs. Once that was done they traipsed through the undergrowth looking for young bushes that Clarke could identify as being fruit or nut bearing. It didn’t take them long to take enough to feel they had all they could reasonably fit in their tubs. The lack of eggs that far south gave them hope that future such excursions would be equally trouble free.

It was the third such incursion that Clarke’s hopes came to naught. Instead of Kochi with her it was a young man who had clearly not learned the lessons from the loss of many of the older Wonkru. Ori had decided that he would walk further into the valley than Clarke had suggested. He completely ignored all of Clarke’s warnings and went so far as to remove his helmet when he complained that he didn’t like the lack of fresh air.

Clarke could see some stirrings in the soil and yelled at him to put the helmet on now. It took a little while for Ori to realise that Clarke was serious and to do as she ordered. He was just in time as four worms launched themselves at him. Clarke stayed calm and asked if any had gotten through. With a smile a shrug of nonchalance Ori indicated that they hadn’t so they began the walk back to safety.

It didn’t take long for Clarke to see another worm launch itself at Ori’s lower leg, where there was a tear in his suit.

Cursing him most roundly, Clarke tied two tight tourniquets on Ori’s leg and sealed up the tear in the suit so that more worms wouldn’t attack. She then made him put his arm over her shoulder so that she could help him move quickly to somewhere that would be safe to operate to remove the worm, hopefully before it had chance to lay its own eggs.

Clarke laid Ori down by the rover and started the fire. Keeping her own suit on, Clarke removed Ori’s trousers, threw some moonshine over it and sliced down his leg. In a move similar to what she did with Octavia, Clarke dug around until she could pull out the worm and threw it in the fire. She then had to dig further to pull out two eggs that also went into the fire. She couldn’t find any more, even after a thorough look so she began to stitch him up.

Clarke radioed Indra to tell her what happened. “We can’t leave until I know he has no more eggs in him” Clarke said. “I can’t risk taking them back with us. If necessary, I will kill him and burn his body” Clarke was unsympathetic to the horrified fear on the young man’s face. Indra wished to speak to Ori so Clarke showed him how to operate the radio and listened.

“Please tell me why you would put yourself, your people in danger this way” Indra ordered in trig.

“I thought that Wanheda was being too cautious and if we were braver we could get more useful plants” Ori offered.

“Did you not learn from what happened to almost wipe out our people? Did you not remember that I told you that the precautions were necessary and that Wanheda Clarke would make no more journeys with us if we did not follow her instructions?” Indra was fuming.

“Yes second commander. I am sorry.”

“Being sorry now does not make up for all you have cost us and what you may have cost yourself. I am sorry that I did not realise before letting you go that you were too young to be trusted with this task. I hope we get to meet again. Let me speak with Wanheda Clarke.”

Ori passed the radio back to Clarke. “How long will you know you can begin the journey back?” Indra asked.

“Tomorrow morning, if there has been no change overnight. I’m afraid I cannot trust Ori to be honest with me so I will have to examine him thoroughly to be sure that no worms live in him. I will do the same every time I check that the rover has not picked any up. He may find it embarrassing but if he does not allow me to examine him, I will not take the risk of bringing him with me.”

Both Indra and Ori understood and agreed to the examination. It didn’t take long for Ori to start getting his swagger back and while Clarke was gently palpitating his abdomen - the preferred site for the worms to lay their eggs, Ori decided to start flirting with Clarke and accusing her of wanting to carry out so close an examination because she was into him.

“It is this kind of attitude that got you into this mess. I know what I am doing. I am alive because I take necessary precautions. I just saved your life and the very least you owe me is respect. If you cannot talk to me with respect, then talk only when you need to.” Clarke was exasperated and fed up with the complete lack of respect that she received from certain members of Wonkru.

Clarke needed to walk quite a distance from Ori and the rover so that she could strip out of the suit to toilet and freshen up. ‘Sometimes’ she thought, ‘it’s better to just do things for your self and share a little with others rather than do joint missions. It’s certainly less hassle and worry for me.’

Clarke found another worm inside Ori that evening. She quickly doused his abdomen, sliced it open and dived in to pull the worm out, throwing it in the fire like she had the other. She then rooted around, carefully looking at the internal organs, searching for damage to them, but with all the blood flowing and the poor light, Clarke could not be sure that she had not missed one. She sewed him back up and gave him a drink of water. Ori had gone into shock, not surprisingly, and it was possible that his death was now inevitable. 

Clarke got on the radio to Indra to give her the news.

“What is your opinion, Waheda?” Indra asked.

“I believe he will be dead by the morning unless he is of a mentally strong character, and his behaviour has not suggested that he is. What do you think?”

“I agree that he is mentally weak. I ask that you put him out of his misery now and burn the body. Take no risks for yourself” Indra sounded resolute but sad.

Clarke did as asked. She briefly lamented the fact that she did not bring the equipment necessary to milk him so that his semen could be used to allow his DNA to continue. Ori’s death really was a senseless waste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next we discover Clarke's reaction to everything that has happened over the previous few months, and it's not pretty.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke tries to teach Octavia about respect.
> 
> WARNING - SCENES WITH D/s UNDERTONES WITH NO SAFE WORDS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have upped the rating to M and increased the warnings. There is some violence, forced sex acts, and wording.
> 
> DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF ANY OF THE ABOVE UPSET OR TRIGGER YOU.
> 
> NOTHING IS EXPLICIT BUT IT IS DEFINITELY THERE.

WARNING SCENES OF A D/S NATURE WITH NO SAFE WORDS

By the time she reached Polis, Clarke was fuming. She handed over the tub of plants to In  
dra then asked to see Octavia “Privately” she insisted.

Indra knew that Octavia was not yet ready to resume control and was about to balk at Clarke’s order, for it was an order, but there were no real grounds for denying Clarke so asked someone to show Clarke to Octavia’s suite. Indra just hoped that they would both come out alive and relatively uninjured.

When they were alone, Clarke locked the door behind her. Octavia looked askance and asked Clarke what the hell she thought she was doing.

“I’m teaching you a lesson, Octavia, in private out of respect for your position, but make no mistake, at the end of this lesson you will treat me with all due deference. When you leave this room you will look at, talk to and think of me as if I were the next best thing to fresh air and your actions, your very being, will be so obvious in your admiration and respect for me that no one in Wonkru would dare to be anything other than equally respectful of me in the future: is that clear?” Clarke was fuming.

At Octavia’s not quite so smug nod, Clarke said “Good, now strip!”

“I beg your pardon?” Octavia was shocked.

“No need to beg yet, Octavia. I would normally give a person the option to say ‘no’ but you gave me no real option but to put myself in danger for you and yours so now I’m giving you no option, strip, Octavia. I won’t say it again, I will just strip you myself and then thrash you for not doing as you were told before I let you give me an orgasm, or two. If you’re very good, I’ll let you have one, too. But you will get nothing until you have learned to behave appropriately to your master.” Clarke stood and raised a brow, questioning why Octavia had not started to strip then walked up her with intent.

Octavia clearly thought that Clarke was bluffing because she crossed her arms in front of her and said “No, now what are you going to do about it?”

Clarke’s immediate response was to reach out to pinch the nerves at her neck that would render Octavia unconscious. Clarke took her time to strip Octavia, bind her hands to one of her bed posts and gag her. Then using the water that was there for Octavia, Clarke washed herself so that Octavia could not complain about Clarke’s lack of hygiene. It was Clarke who had that concern.

Octavia came to only see that Clarke had done exactly as she said. Additionally, Octavia realised that she was bound and gagged. She fumed.

“I need you to understand, Octavia, that I had treated you with respect and all that I required was for you to reciprocate. You did not and I have had to pay for it. Now I am going to teach you what happens to adults who do not treat me with respect: that is if they don’t die before they have a chance to learn. I told you that if I had to strip you I would and then thrash you. Luckily for you there are no whips or canes in this room and I will have to use my hands.” Punctuating every word with a hard slap to Octavia’s buttocks Clarke spoke without inflection:

“When” SLAP!

“I” SLAP!

“Tell” SLAP!

“You” SLAP!

“To” SLAP!

“Do” SLAP!

“Something” SLAP!

“You” SLAP!

“Do” SLAP!

“It” SLAP!

And finally, with anger and disgust in equal measure “Immediately” SLAP!

“Now, I am going to ask you some questions and the answer will be either ‘yes, master Wanheda Clarke’ or ‘no, master Wanheda Clarke’ or at a push ‘I’m sorry, master Wanheda Clarke’. I will look to see the answer in your eyes and if it is not what I want to see you will be punished. I do hope you understood all that for I will not repeat it.

“Do you like to eat pussy?”

Octavia glared her answer to Clarke and it was not one of the accepted ones.

“Dear, oh dear, that is not what I wanted to see.” As quick as a flash, Clarke picked up a book to smack Octavia across her already sore bottom.

“Now we’ll try that again.”

On and on it went until Octavia finally gave up and started to cry; great big sopping wet tears streaming down her face, snot dripping from her nose. Clarke went to get a cloth, held it to Octavia’s nose and ordered her to blow.

“Now that you’ve calmed down. Let’s try again. Do you like to eat pussy?”

This time the answer was clear in Octavia’s eyes of ‘no master Wanheda Clarke’.

“Such a shame” Clarke said. “I do like to eat pussy, clean, well groomed pussy that is, which yours is not. While you were unconscious, however, I washed mine especially for you. Still, let’s try something else. Do you like to suck cock?”

‘No, master Wanheda Clarke.’

“You don’t like to eat pussy or suck cock, you must be a little, I really don’t know how to say this without sounding rude so I’m just going to come out with it, dull: you must be a little, actually, very dull in the bedroom. I suppose I shouldn’t judge, I am sure there are people who like their partner to just lie there while they do all the work. Perhaps you need some lessons on how to give as well as take. I think I am just the woman to do that. I shall think about how to teach to enjoy sucking cock. I can’t ask one of Wonkru to help since that might detract from the respect you garner from your men. They’re not going to respect the words coming out of your mouth when it’s been wrapped around their cock and you had to be told what to do. For now I’ll concentrate on teaching you to eat pussy and when I’m satisfied that you do it well I shall sort out a few men to use to teach you how to suck cock if I don’t think you are treating me with the respect that I demanded earlier. Do you remember how I said you should show your respect?”

Octavia’s eyes showed a moment or two of panic before they expressed her sorrow at the negative answer.

“Oh dear, this is disappointing, Octavia: I expect you to remember everything I say so that I do not need to keep repeating it. I said that you will look at, talk to and think of me as if I were the next best thing to fresh air and your actions, your very being, will be so obvious in your admiration and respect for me that no one in Wonkru would dare to be anything other than equally respectful of me in the future. I should add that it also applies when I am not there to police your words, thoughts and actions. As of now, you think of me as a Goddess who can say, think or do no wrong. You do that and our lessons will be short and infrequent. You fail me again and I will come for you, and you won’t be able to hide from me.

“Now, Octavia, do you know where the clit is?”

The answer was clear.

“Oh, dear. Do you even know what at clit, or clitoris is?”

At the answer Clarke sighed and said “We have a lot to cover. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at your ignorance since Bellamy was your sex education teacher” and she stripped her own clothes off below the waist. “We shall cover breast stimulation in another lesson, don’t worry.”

Octavia didn’t know whether to be more fascinated, or more appalled at the fact that Clarke Griffin was using her own body to teach Octavia about sex. She decided to be fascinated and focussed on what Clarke was trying to teach her.

At the end of the lesson, Octavia had managed to give Clarke an orgasm. Clarke did not return the favour. Clarke redressed and told Octavia to keep her pussy clean and groomed if she ever wanted an orgasm from someone eating her pussy. Ignoring the hurt look on Octavia’s face she said “Next time we will have a quick recap to make sure you have retained the information, punishment if anyone, including you, shows me one iota of disrespect and then we’ll move on to teaching you how to make sure your partner enjoys you playing with her breasts. After I’ve removed your gag, you thank me for taking the time to teach you to eat pussy.” Clarke unbound Octavia’s hands and removed the gag.

Octavia was about to lash out at Clarke but since she was expecting it Clarke was able to block the blow and land one of her own before putting Octavia in a head lock.

“I told you about respect; it seems the lesson needs to be reinforced. Don’t push me, Octavia or I will humiliate you in front of all your people, what’s left of them anyway. If I cannot teach you respect in private, the lessons will become public. That is the last warning I give you. Thank me for teaching you to eat pussy.”

Octavia did.

“Very begrudging, but at least it shows you’re learning. Be prepared because you never know when the next lesson will come. Remember, part of it will be punishment for incidents of lack of respect from anyone in Wonkru and you’ve just notched up one. Be seeing you, Octavia. Remember the key word; respect” and Clarke unlocked the door and left before Octavia could gather her wits.

Clarke found Indra and told her that she was trying to teach Octavia that it was important that she and everyone show proper respect. “I will not keep giving when all I receive in return is disrespect. I hope I got the message across to her for I will not put up with another Miller or Ori.”

“I understand Wanheda Clarke. Wonkru has much to thank you for and I will not forget it” Indra promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Maria + Tyler for unintentionally giving me the idea! I do hope you aren't offended.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke has some fun with Echo, and begins to plan better for her peoples' futures.

Clarke wasn’t sure if her interaction with Octavia would turn out to be a good thing or would bring Blodreina back to the fore. In any case, Clarke decided she was done with being treated with disrespect by those who should be bowing down to her in gratitude. From now on Clarke would always be armed and ready to use deadly force in her own defence. They may have thought that her magnanimity was a sign of weakness, but she would prove to them that they were wrong. No one would again make the mistake of thinking she was weak – and that included her cowardly ex. From now on respect from everyone would be a requirement and that included the respect of honesty.

Clarke called Charmaine and told her what happened. Charmaine laughed.

“I’m going to make sure Bellamy knows that you taught his little sister a lesson in respect that you have vowed to make sure everyone else follows and that you have vowed that if anyone else goes behind your back and lies to you again, including by omission and especially if they are from the Blake family, you will endeavour to teach them proper respect but that your lessons will no longer be carried out privately. I want to see him turn a nice shade of green” Charmaine said. “Anyway, I have to go, my waters have just broken so Hope will be with me the next time we speak so you’ll have to keep it PG at worst. Good job you called when you did. I’ll tell Madi to call you when it’s all over. Bye” and the connection was cut before Clarke could respond again.

Back at the island Clarke walked into the middle of a row between Kara and Echo. What started it, Clarke had no idea, put she was going to make sure it stopped, now.

“The next one of you two to raise your voice, or to use foul and abusive language will be stripped of their clothes and put outside to cool down and if the other laughs at their misfortune, the same thing will happen to them; so shut it. I have had a very trying time dealing with the disrespect of the people of Wonkru and I do not want to come back to my own home to witness other people being disrespectful to each other. I will no longer accept people being disrespectful of me or mine, and that includes my clan and my guests. I hope that is understood. If either of you feel you have something you need to say to the other, you say it calmly, constructively and respectfully. Echo, anything you need to say to Kara?”

“No, Clarke. I’m sorry for disrespecting your home and your guest” Echo said; probably because she had no doubt got her message across earlier.

“Kara, anything you need to say to Echo?” Clarke asked wondering if she was going to as disrespectful as most of the rest of Wonkru.

“Nope, I’m good”.

Clarke waited a moment to see if Kara wanted to add anything else. When it was clear she didn’t Clarke went on the offensive. “Thank you for your apology, Echo. Kara, I have had nothing but disrespect from nearly everyone in Wonkru and I am fed up to the back teeth with it. I will not go back on my word, while you are pregnant you will be treated like a queen, but if you behave like one you will be reminded of what happened to Mary Queen of Scots, Lady Jane Grey, Anne Bolynn, all queens kept locked up until they were beheaded. Please don’t let it happen to you. That is all; you may go to your rooms now.”

Echo left with a respectful nod and a bit of a smirk. Kara left with her metaphorical tail between her legs.

Clarke walked into her kitchen to Egan handing her a glass of moonshine.

“I wondered when you were going to start standing up for yourself” Egan said. “You have done nothing but give to people, all people, and the very least you deserve to be given in return is respect. Please let me know if I fail your standards. I assure you that I will never purposely disrespect you, or yours.”

“Thank you, Egan. So far I don’t think you ever have; or at least not since you came here. I’m discounting what happened in Shallow Valley. I can’t hold it against anyone what they do when we’re enemies. Oh, Charmain is in labour. Hope should be born today or, more likely, tomorrow; possibly even the day after, but I wouldn’t want to be my mother if that’s the case” Clarke smiled as Egan laughed.

There was a noticeable difference in the way the people spoke to Clarke after her little outburst. Even with the increased respect, Echo still managed to instil an extra degree or two of warmth when speaking with Clarke. Kara managed to show a little fear, but at least managed to always talk to Clarke with respect, and everyone else she interacted with that Clarke overheard. The men managed to keep the condescension out of their voices, showing true respect for the first time. Just to rub it in, Clarke announced that she needed to brush up on her combat skills and asked if any of the men were skilled in unarmed combat to help her train. If not, she and Echo would have train in unarmed and with swords against each other but Clarke was sure that they would improve with different opponents.

“Surely you get some training with the people of Wonkru?” Kara said.

“I’ve already beaten Miller and Octavia – quite easily too, Gaia’s pregnant and I would not wish to risk humiliating Indra. I suppose now that Octavia is aware that I am not unskilled may actually put up a bit more of a fight, but really, who else is there?” Clarke asked.

“I could probably help with the unarmed combat, m’am” Meelor said. “I probably wouldn’t be much use for real practice, but I could help teach you some of the moves that I was taught when young. I could also help you practice the balance that you need to fight with a much bigger person.”

Clarke beamed at him. “Thank you, Meelor; that would be very helpful since I have not had much practice fighting with such bigger men, and I have to say that you may be bigger than Roan who did try to teach me how to fight. Echo, how about you? Any tips you can give me?”

Echo was reeling from the fact that her King tried to teach Clarke how to fight. They must have been closer than she had thought. Echo then thought about Griff, he looked nothing like Bellamy. Blake almost looked like Bellamy’s clone, but Griff. Was it possible that Griff was the King’s son? Surely if he was, Clarke would have named him after his father? Was it even possible that twins could have a different father?

“Oh, sorry, Clarke, I was thinking of something else” Echo was apologetic realising she had been ignoring her Heda. “I think the main advice I can give for when fighting a much bigger person is to aim low until you discover their individual weaknesses. What weaknesses did you discover in the King?” Echo decided to fish.

“His main weakness was his desire to not hurt me, the idiot. He, like many others, made the mistake of thinking me weak and useless. He focussed too much on the blonde hair and blue eyes. But he did teach me many things and we sometimes managed to have some fun while doing it. I don’t think poor Roan got to enjoy much fun in his life.” Clarke knew what Echo was doing and threw it back at her.

“No, I don’t think he did either” Echo conceded. “Thank you for trying to be his friend, despite all the obstacles I kept putting in your way.”

“I miss him” Clarke said, simply.

The next radio conversation that Echo had with Bellamy she asked him if it was possible for a set of twins to have two different fathers.

“Fraternal twins, yes: why?” Bellamy wondered.

“It’s just that Clarke said something about how much she missed the King and Griff looks nothing like you, but there could be a resemblance to the King. I don’t want to cause trouble, or make Clarke think that I question her honesty but it just got me thinking – sorry” Echo said.

“It’s okay, I’m glad you’re asking me rather than brooding on it” Bellamy smiled thinking about how Echo’s face was probably doing that little scrunch that said she wanted to know something, but she also didn’t want to know. “Blake certainly looks more like me than Griff, but Griff looks like Clarke’s dad, Jake. Griff also has this way of putting his hands on his hips and doing a half turn exactly how Octavia used to stand when she was wanting to get her point across. I have no doubt that Griff is as much my biological son as Blake. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Echo was puzzled.

“I’m sorry that your King’s bloodline will not continue through Griff” Bellamy said, feeling sad for the loss that Echo will no doubt feel again.

“I am not” Echo surprised Bellamy with. “I am naturally sorry that there is not another bloodline for our people, and a little sorry that King Roan will not live on in a son, but I am glad that you do not have to play nontu to another man’s son.”

“Echo, even if Griff was biologically someone else’s child, he would still be my son. Clarke has taught me many lessons, and one of them is that biology does not make a parent: Clarke loves Madi just as much as she loves the boys and Madi is not her biological child” Bellamy hoped that Echo would understand because he wanted her to love his sons, and any other children that they might be blessed to receive regardless of their DNA.

“You are a good man, Bellamy and I can’t wait for you to come back to me; just so I can see how you react to the new Clarke” Echo laughed as she explained how Clarke had grown in their absence.

Unaware that Charmaine recorded all radio calls to and from the ship, except for those between herself and Clarke, Echo blathered on about how strong, and very like a Commander Clarke had become and she thought that it was a very attractive feature. Echo was aware that Clarke was bisexual and suggested that she and Bellamy could experiment one day and invite Clarke to join them. Bellamy seemed to think it was a joke and laughed at the idea, but Charmaine wasn’t so sure. Murphy wasn’t either judging by the pink about his ears as he relayed the call to Charmaine in the hospital wing.

“Do you think she will push Bellamy to proposition Clarke?” Charmaine asked Murphy.

“No. Now that she has mentioned that she is not adverse to the idea, I think she will expect Bellamy to do the asking. She will watch to look for indicators that he has asked and what the response was. I think if there is no response, she will suggest it again and see what happens. After that, she will leave it alone. Echo is all about Bellamy” Murphy said.

“Thanks, sorry you got lumbered with this task. I’ll make sure that no such proposition comes to pass. I should be up to listening to calls again, tomorrow, and then we shall soon return home and I can then get back to real work. Can you ask Monty to come and see me to talk about Ethan?”

“Sure, I’ve had worse jobs, but listening to a lot of radio sex is not really my thing. Glad you and Hope are well” Murphy left to get Monty and to return to the radio calls.

When Murphy learned that they were listening to and recording all radio calls he thought that Clarke had gotten paranoid. He should have known better. Clarke is still alive because she takes precautions in the hope that they are proven to be unneeded, but not the expectation.

It would be just a few more weeks before the rest of her kru would return from the ship with a new member. Clarke was looking forward to having another baby about the place. She worked with those who were on earth to help make a proper crib, one that would be passed down to new babies as they arrived. They definitely needed to try to get some logs to make cabins, or find a way to make cement so that they could use manageable sized stones to build. More homes were needed, and they were needed quickly.

Clarke decided that once the field had been sewn, they would concentrate on making sure that the dams would hold for the lake they wanted, and building homes. Going to the lab to use the computer, Clarke asked it to design a small, two roomed building using the materials to which they readily had access. Clarke was amazed. A few clarifying questions were asked and Clarke realised how very short sighted she had been. She knew that old New York City was not far and she had not thought to send out a scavenging team. If only half of the things that the computer thought would be available were, then there was still a treasure trove of materials available there.

Clarke mentally set out a plan of action once everyone had returned. It was going to be a very busy year and the more hands they had, the better. Clarke got on the radio to Indra. No firm deal was agreed: Clarke didn’t know what she would have to work with, but an agreement in principle was reached and Octavia was not going to be happy.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke's people come home from space. Clarke takes the first step in dealing with the problem that is Octavia, and in preparing Shallow Valley for the people of the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is not very long but is necessary for putting the chess pieces in the right place for Clarke's multi-pronged attack on anything and anyone she thinks threatens the future of her people.

Her people were coming home. Clarke saw the ship briefly in the distance as it flew to Polis to drop off the members of Wonkru, excepting Ethan, but including those who had wanted to join Clarke’skru and were told that thanks to their double crossing in trying to talk Madi into taking the flame, and in trying to obtain information about their weapons they would not be welcome; at least not yet.

Echo and Clarke headed off in the rover to greet their families as they disembarked the ship. Madi, Blake and Griff were the first off, running to Clarke as fast as their legs could carry them. With no idea exactly how she managed to do so, Clarke wrapped all three of her children in her arms in one giant hug.

Tears gently flowed down her cheeks as Clarke said how very glad she was see her babies, all three of them, and her shock at how much they had grown. The boys were surprised at how happy they were to be back in their mother’s arms, back in their own home. As much as they enjoyed their time on the ship with Bellamy, the change in scenery and their routine, they needed to be with their mom.

The last person to disembark the ship was Charmaine holding her very new baby daughter, Hope. Knowing that all eyes would be on them, Clarke walked up to Charmain with a large smile on her face as she put her arms around the older woman and theatrically kissed her on the lips.

“Hey, don’t get too into it” Charmaine said quietly so they couldn’t be overheard. “You may be bi but I’m strictly hetero.”

“Give over with your complaining” Clarke smiled as she whispered in reply. “I bet you’ve done worse things for your country. Are they watching?”

“You’re right, I have; and yes, they are. Don’t worry, I warned Abby and Madi so they won’t make a big deal out of it, but others may.”

That evening, one of the male boars, now quite grown, was slaughtered and roasted with some potatoes and vegetables as a ‘Welcome Home’ feast. It would be the only boar slaughtered for some time. Charmain took the opportunity to introduce the two new clan members: Thorne and Spike. Clarke took one look at Thorne and wondered if she was imagining things.

“Hello, I am very pleased to meet you both. I hope you find life here fulfilling. If there is anything you can think of that would make you happier with us that we might be able to arrange, please let us know. As I’m sure you have been told, accommodation is a little cramped here at the moment but we hope to embark of a large scale building programme that will see everyone with their own space before the end of summer. We’re a bit short of just about everything so all ideas on how to make our few resources go further will be gratefully received.”

“Not good with ideas” Spike said. “Good at following orders, though.”

“Well, there’s no point in having ideas if we don’t have the people to help see them through so I’ll take that and be grateful” Clarke said with a smile.

“I like to blow things up and burn them” Thorne said. “I don’t expect that will be welcome.”

“Then I’m sure you, Raven and Murphy had lots to talk about! Your special skills might not be needed just yet, but at some point they will be, so hang in there” Clarke encouraged.

The next day, Clarke outlined plans for the immediate future with Kane and Charmaine, and the issues that she thought they needed to address with her initial ideas. “We can talk more about them later once we have set in motion the scavenging trips” Clarke said and received Kane and Charmaine’s agreement as she added: “We will need to include Monty and Bellamy as appropriate so I’ll need to make sure that neither are on the trip.”

When there was a quiet moment, Clarke went to talk to Raven and Shaw. She needed one of them to go on the first trip and she wanted them to decide between them if possible. Ideally she would send either Monty or Bellamy but they were the ones she needed to talk to about other issues and she didn’t want to wait so it had to be Harper, which would not go down well.

Once Clarke explained what she wanted, Raven said that it should be her that went since she knew her way around the facility better than even Harper did so she could fulfil two roles. Raven wasn’t looking forward to returning to Mt Weather, but she totally understood where Clarke was coming from and wondered why she never thought of it earlier.

When Mt Weather was blown, it collapsed inwards. Since the garage was on the ground level and on the outskirts of the mountain, it was possible that with the use of some of the mining equipment they may be able to dig out some parts to repair their vehicles, or to make more.

“Don’t put yourselves at risk” Clarke warned. “It would be useful to have more vehicles, but it is not necessary. Be sensible and bring back what you can, if you can. I’d rather you came back uninjured and empty handed than with something and be hurt. If it is a complete bust, try the basements of the Smithsonian or the old Government buildings of TonDC since you’ll be in the area.”

Clarke then went to talk to Monty. She briefly outlined the issue with the worm eggs and the growth of the green area. “I know it’s not an issue we need to address now, but the longer we leave it, the harder it will be for our children or grandchildren. Tomorrow there will be a meeting with Indra and Octavia, as well as Kara and you so that we can agree what our strategy will be. I just wanted to give you a heads up so you had some time to think about the things you want to ask, or what you will need to know before you can give definitive advice.”

“Thanks, Clarke. It will definitely be easier if we can tackle the problem while it is still relatively small, but we will probably still need to do it in stages. I’ll think about it” Monty said.

The next chat was with Bellamy: but it wasn’t so much of a chat, rather an instruction from the clan leader to one of her people. 

“Octavia will be here tomorrow with Indra. I want you to go and pick them up in the rover. They will set off on foot, unaccompanied, and Charmaine will keep an eye on that for you, and will meet you north of Polis. You should take a gunner, plus another woman with you to make sure both Indra and Octavia are unarmed. Indra knows this and has promised to make sure Octavia knows. Be thorough in the search for weapons, you will know who would be best out of Harper or Echo to do that but allow both Indra and Octavia to maintain their dignity. You will need to set off at dawn so make sure you take enough rations and water. Take a short break at Ware on the way back so that they can look around the area. Indra said they still want to settle there. There may be some building materials they could use in some of the nearby old towns, or possibly want to move further north, closer to Philadelphia for buildings, but the soil may not be suitable. Give them a chance to look and talk, but keep your eyes and ears open. If you have any concerns, even if it is just a feeling, code word gingerbread and I’ll radio to warn them they are being monitored. Any questions? No, good, see you when you get back, just let me or Charmaine know who will be accompanying you.”

Bellamy was a little bemused by the information Clarke threw at him, not that he had any problems with any of it, it was just the way it was all delivered in so impersonal a manner that he found perplexing.

Clarke was able to spend some quiet time with her children, doing nothing but enjoying each other’s company. Madi, Blake and Griff all exclaimed over the extra berry bushes that they had, and even noticed that it looked like they would soon have some baby rabbits and some chicks. Madi said that they should chose three female and one male to trade with Wonkru, ideas that Clarke was very proud of Madi for voicing.

While Blake and Griff were having some lessons with Kane, Clarke took the opportunity to ask Madi what she wanted done about Ethan.

“Nothing” Madi said. “He was following his Commander’s orders and I don’t think we can really fault him for that. The problem is with the order.”

“I don’t know how you got to be so wise” Clarke said. “I am so proud of you. Would you like to be more involved in our strategy and planning meetings? While I think you would learn a lot, I also think you have a lot that you could contribute.”

Madi thought for a moment before declining. “If you can tell me about them, I would prefer that. I can start attending next year when I am 14. What are you planning on doing about Octavia? She can’t be allowed to keep on trying to undermine you while you are trying to help Wonkru.”

Clarke, pleased with Madi’s insight outlined her plan for Octavia. “Indra has, reluctantly, agreed. Bellamy might be a problem. If it gets to be too much he can go to Wonkru for a while, but I think he’ll be too busy to interfere.”

Raven set off in the truck with Murphy, Emori and Spike, who was told that Raven was in charge of the trip and it was her orders that needed to be followed. When Spike looked Raven up and down and it didn’t appear that he thought there was much to Raven, Clarke said “You might think that her gimpy leg makes Raven weak, but she is that way after being shot in the spine. Perhaps not physically the strongest of us, but Raven is by far the cleverest, making her the most valuable person on earth; so do nothing to piss her off”.

“Yeah, yeah, we know I’m awesome, Clarke” Raven agreed modestly. “But if you didn’t have the ideas, the plan, I wouldn’t have anything to work with, so don’t sell your own brain short.”

“She’s right. Everything that has been accomplished here has been because of your plans” Murphy agreed. “You might not have been able to do it all without help, but none of us would be alive without your outrageous ideas.”

“Thank you for the support” Clarke said. “Keep in touch and be safe, all of you.”

Bellamy was not impressed with the way that Octavia was behaving like a brat. He doubted that it would have been any better if Harper hadn’t found the knife she had hidden in her clothes. Indra, however, Bellamy was very impressed with the stoicism and gratitude she displayed to Clarke and Clarke’skru for all the help that had been given.

The look around Ware showed that there would be no resources that they would be able to use for building anywhere near. It was agreed that they would look around Phia to see if that was a possible site for settling and to take some soil samples if agreed. Octavia huffed in annoyance, but Indra said that she thought the area to the east of Phia would be best: closer to Beccaston, access to the building stones and metal of old Phia; and hopefully soil that would prove to be fertile.

Indra and Octavia would talk in trig, not realising that both Bellamy and Harper could understand all that they were saying. Indra was telling Octavia that Clarke was trying to treat Octavia as the head of Wonkru with respect, but Octavia was making it difficult.

“You know that if she thinks that we are a threat to her people that she will do whatever it takes to protect them, at our expense, so I ask you again, Heda Octavia, to give her no reason to cease helping us” Indra sounded exasperated, and respectful at the same time and Bellamy wondered how she had mastered that particular skill.

“Miller was right” Octavia said in reply. “We give Clarke too much importance, she should be taught her place.”

“We did not give Clarke enough importance when she radioed you to beg you not to release the worm eggs in the valley. Clarke’s place is clearly leading the people into a peaceful and prosperous future. If you cannot give her the proper respect then I fear it is you who will be taught your place.” This time Indra sounded merely sad.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let on to her or her pathetic minions what I think of them.”

Indra may not have worried, but Bellamy did; and a quick look at Harper showed that she did too.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Octavia never learns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH

Octavia didn’t eat with the rest of the people that day at all: Clarke said that she was still a bit ornery and probably feeling overwhelmed. Most accepted it, one or two knew that there was more to it than that, especially when they caught the smirks shared between Charmaine and Clarke. Clarke did take Octavia something to eat, though.

“I hope that you’ll feel more able to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner tomorrow, Octavia” Clarke said. “I want to get you out of this room and actually have you shadowing me for the morning, and then you can spend some time with Charmaine and maybe Kara while I’m with Madi, Griff and Blake in the afternoon. The evening you can spend with me and some others so you get a feel for how we run things here. Maybe you can even learn how to treat your people nicely so that they’re happy to work for you.”

“One of these days Wanheda I’m going to kill you. You won’t see it coming, you might not even feel it, but I so hope you do, but I am going to have the personal pleasure of killing you, preferably while your so called family watch and be unable to do anything about it” Octavia growled.

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t like me. The thing is, Octavia, you’re going to have to get a lot better at fighting than you currently are. How about we plan some training exercises for you? A lot of us are beginning training and I’m sure you are better than most, help boost your ego, sorry, confidence up a bit before you progress to the tougher competition.”

“You mean you? Clarke Griffin beat me in a fight when I am strong, practiced and alert? You cannot be that stupid, but then you always were an arrogant little princess, so sure you were better than all of us; but you’re not and I’ll prove it to you, I’ll prove it to everyone and then all your people will bow down to me” Octavia was so sure she was right.

Clarke was beginning to think that there would be no saving Octavia and she had to plan how best to end it. ‘Such a shame’ Clarke thought. ‘So much potential wasted.’

Octavia decided to adopt a submissive pose, pretend to be learning to respect Wanheda while she searched for weaknesses. It was annoying, but Clarke’s biggest weakness was her children and Octavia didn’t really want to use them unless she had to.

The plan that Clarke talked over with Charmaine was almost fool proof. Almost because there was the slight risk that Octavia would end up killing Clarke even when she lost. Charmaine said she would have Clarke’s back.

Raven radioed to say that they hit the mother-load in Mt Weather. “As well as a Rover completely intact, there’s a motor bike, another truck that was smashed in at the back that I think we’ll be able to repair and loads of parts and tools that would be so useful” she was so excited.

“That’s great, Rae” Clarke said. “When you can sort out how to get the broken truck and everything else here, get Bellamy to take one of the Rovers to Polis for their use and we’ll keep everything else. We can look at the Smithsonian another time, although, perhaps we ought to do that before Wonkru think of it, what do you think, Rae?” 

Raven, shocked that Clarke would ask her opinion was silent for a moment. “I think that we get everything back to Becca’ston and then we select a team to leave the day or two after. I don’t think Wonkru would really appreciate the sort of things that might be found in the Smithsonian basements.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Do you want to be in on the team or do you want to stay and start on repairing the truck?”

“Ooh, difficult choice” Raven said. “I think, on balance I would rather stay and work on the truck, let Shaw take one, or better yet, let Bellamy lead with Murphy and Emori they’ll catch the mechanical as well as culturally important stuff.”

“Yeah, okay, but if they find anything it might mean we don’t get Bellamy back; which is a risk I’m more than willing to take” Clarke joked, well sort of joked. “I actually have another mission for Shaw; he could use the motor bike, he’ll like that. I need someone to go and have a close look around the old New York, New Jersey area. The computer here seems to think that there should lots of stuff to scavenge around there despite the levelling it received from the first praimfaya. I’m not sure I trust it, but it would be worth taking a look and I know Shaw would like any excuse to get on a bike again.” Clarke smiled as she thought about Shaw telling her about his motor bike that he lost.

Raven, feeling very put out, now wondered if the reason Clarke was being so forthcoming was so she could let Raven know that she had competition. She would watch and wait.

Clarke radioed Indra to let her know that Bellamy would be dropping off a Rover that Wonkru could keep. She mentioned that Kochi could drive but if Indra wanted Bellamy to give more people driving lessons she was sure he would oblige. She also added that Octavia was threatening to kill her, Clarke, and she wanted to encourage a fair and honourable duel and hoped that if that was what Octavia agreed, Indra would bring Jackson and one or two others to act as witness. Indra sighed as she agreed that it was probably all going to end that way and thanked Clarke for trying to arrange for Octavia to be the only casualty because she had no doubt that if Octavia were to win, she would go on the rampage with Clarke’skru. Clarke didn’t say that if somehow Octavia were to win, Charmaine would kill her anyway.

Clarke told Shaw about his mission, how he could complete it and why he was being sent on it. He, like Clarke, thought that it was unlikely that anything would have survived from around old New York but agreed that it was worth a look “especially since he’ll be able to travel by motor bike” he said. Clarke didn’t point out exactly how close they were to old New York thinking that it would take a bit of the shine from the trip for him.

Luckily Indra didn’t get to see the second truck, but Bellamy thought to make sure everyone knew to say that they didn’t know if they could repair it or if it would have to be scrapped for parts if they ever were asked. Raven decided to park it behind the drop ship, a little away from the main settlement so that it wasn’t seen by any visitors.

Allowing Octavia to take part in training sessions was not proving popular: she did not treat them as training sessions, just as an opportunity to prove how much better than everyone else she was. She did have to really fight to beat her brother, and was fairly even with Echo which made Clarke know that Octavia was not as good as she was, even Madi could possibly beat Octavia in a fair, honourable duel.

When Octavia goaded Clarke enough that Clarke thought she could justify her losing her temper, Clarke agreed to fight Octavia for the control of all the people, but Clarke insisted that some witnesses from Wonkru should come so that no one could say that Clarke cheated when she beat Octavia fair and square. Octavia smirked and agreed, not knowing that she had sealed her fate.

Bellamy was worried that Clarke would fight and lose and Octavia would kill her. He was also worried that Octavia would lose and that Clarke would kill her. He didn’t see any way that he was not going to lose someone he loved in that fight. Echo tried to reassure him by pointing out that Clarke would not wish to fight to the death, but rather until the other either conceded or was knocked unconscious. That line worked until he realised that even though Clarke would not kill an unconscious person, Octavia would have no such scruples.

Abby and Marcus tried to keep the children away from the fight. But when their attention was required for Hope when she threw up, Blake and Griffin took the opportunity to slip out, wanting to see their momma duel with Aunti O.

Clarke had Octavia down, hogtied, and was holding a knife to her throat.

“Indra and other witnesses from Wonkru” Clarke called, “do you agree that I have defeated Octavia, former Blodreina and that Wonkru is now part of Clarke’skru?”

“Yes, Wanheda Clarke” Indra said, “Wonkru accept your right to rule Wonkru by virtue of combat. I, Indra, sekon heda of Wonkru bows to you, Wanheda Clarke, on behalf of all Wonkru. We are proud to call ourselves part of Clarke’skru.”

“Thank you” Clarke said as she got up. “Cut her loose, Indra, and Jackson, treat her wounds, I think she’s lost a bit of blood.”

Indra and Jackson went to do as Clarke asked and Clarke set off to go see her boys when she caught sight of Bellamy looking horrified over her shoulder. Clarke turned around just as there was a unified horrified gasp all around.

“Hey, Princess” Octavia called, far too smug to be the tone of a defeated woman. “I think you’re gonna want to bow down to me now.”

Clarke slowly turned to see that Octavia had Blake in a headlock with a knife at his throat, already drawing a thin line of blood.

“You lost, Octavia, doing this is without honour and you know it” Clarke said as she frantically looked around for Charmaine. She found her and knew Blake would be safe. “Let Blake go and keep your honour. Blake, close your eyes, okay, close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you to. Please, close your eyes, now!”

Blake, scared as he was did as his momma told him and closed his eyes. He kept them closed when he heard the loud bang and Auntie O let go of him. He kept them closed as he felt his neck stinging from where Auntie O cut him with her knife. He kept them closed as he felt his momma sweep him up in his arms and carry him away.

Clarke carried Blake to med centre and ignored the bloody body of Octavia. “That’s a good boy, keep your eyes closed” she whispered to her son. “Keep them closed until I tell you to open them” she said as she got a sedative ready to inject him so that she could stitch his neck.

Clarke didn’t worry about Griff: she knew that Madi would be looking after him. Clarke didn’t worry about Octavia: she knew that Indra would be looking after her body. Clarke didn’t worry about her people: she knew that Charmaine would be looking after them.

In all the cases, Clarke was right. She knew her people, even when she hoped she was wrong about them. Clarke had told Abby and Marcus that they had to make sure they kept an eye on the boys at all times otherwise they would try to get out to watch the fight with Octavia. Both Abby and Marcus assured Clarke that they would make sure to keep the boys safe and when Clarke tried to push the issue she could tell that they were offended and insisted that they were quite capable of watching two young boys and a baby between them. Clarke hoped that she would be able to trust her mom and Marcus, but she was proven right, that she can’t and as a result, Blake almost died and will always have the memory of his aunt holding a knife to his throat. For the sake of her children, she would have to find another minder. 

Once Blake was awake and with his beloved momma, brother and sister he cried and promised that he would never disobey again. Clarke knew to take that promise and immediately discount it, but she did point out to both Blake and Griff that not only did they disobey their mom, which is naughty, they also disobeyed their leader, their commander which is serious and they must learn that they cannot just do what they want.

Leaving the two boys to be watched by their sister, Clarke went to speak to Bellamy: she needed to express her condolences to him for the loss of his sister, and to apologise for trusting Abby and Marcus to watch his sons. “I will not make that mistake again when it is imperative that they be actively kept safe” she assured Bellamy.

Bellamy, not sure what he was thinking, or feeling, merely nodded at Clarke, more an acknowledgment of her words than a response to them.

Returning to her family, Clarke was approached by Abby and Marcus.

“Clarke, how is he?” Abby called.

“I need for you two to give me time before I speak to you about Blake. Please leave and do not approach me again” Clarke was firm.

“Now just a minute” Abby began.

“I asked you to leave; I am now telling you to leave and not to approach me or my children again until I give you leave” Clarke gritted out and moved to walk around the pair.

“You do not speak to me like that” Abby said as she grabbed Clarke’s arm. “I am your mother and you speak to me with respect: is that clear young lady?”

Clarke took Abby’s hand and removed it from her arm and dropped it with a look of disgust. “Touch me again and you will be imprisoned; speak to me again in that tone and you will be imprisoned; put my children in danger again and you will be banished. I am not just your daughter, I am also your commander and I made a simple request for you to give me time before speaking but you could not do that and this is what it has come to. So as your commander, I am ordering you to go and not to approach me until I give you leave: is that clear Dr Griffin?”

“Clarke, I’m sorry, you’re right” Marcus tried to heal the division. “As soon as you said you needed time we should have left you. Come speak to us when you’re ready.”

This time Clarke was able to walk past them and make her way to her family. 

Marcus tried to calm and console Abby. He remembered how Clarke had tried to emphasise that the boys would need to be watched at all times or they would slip out to watch the duel, but he and Abby were so sure that there would be no problem that they brushed aside Clarke’s words and fears and they came to pass. Although they were older than Clarke, neither of them were wiser, especially when it came to the children, and they should have heeded her words.

Blake complained that his neck itched and was sore all the time. There was nothing that could be done but Clarke did say that if it was so bad then maybe he would have to stay in bed and only drink water. Even though Blake decided it wasn’t too bad after all, he was reminded that he had to keep it clean and dry or it could become very serious. Clarke told him that if she caught a glimpse of a single speck of dirt on his neck, or any water, then he would have to stay by her side all the time, even when she was doing boring office work, until the stitches came out.

Clarke needed to speak with Bellamy and Indra about Octavia’s remains. She didn’t want Octavia to become a meal for Wonkru, but neither did they have the timber to make a pyre. Clarke suggested that they take her back to the drop ship site and bury her with the rest of the 100 who were buried there.

“Yeah, I want to do that” Bellamy said. “Do you still have Miller?”

“No” Indra replied without going into detail.

“Then I think Clarke, Raven, Monty, Harper and Murphy and I will take her back to the drop ship” Bellamy decided.

Clarke put Indra in charge of Blake and Griff and they were not amused (Jackson was but he managed to hide it quite well). They were told they had to do exactly what Indra said or she was allowed to punish them. Both boys could see that Indra was fierce and they couldn’t wait for their momma to get back home. Charmaine, with the help of Madi, was put in charge of the rest of Becca’ston.

Nearly three days after they set off to bury Octavia, the group arrived back home. They were glad to be back in their own beds, with their own partners (in the case of Bellamy, Raven and Murphy). Clarke was happy to sleep in the room with her three beloved children next to her,

Clarke took the time of the long journey to and from the drop ship to think about how she wanted to take Clarke’skru forward; who she would need on her side; and how she could eliminate future threats without killing half of Wonkru. At least this time she would not have to worry about Miller or Octavia, but she did worry about Gaia and her followers. Clarke didn’t want to, but she might have to destroy the flame if Gaia could not accept that it should not be brought up again until at least after Madi turned 18; and, even though it would turn Indra against her, Clarke might end up having to kill Gaia as well as the flame. 

Clarke wished so much that Octavia could have been relied upon to be an ally; it would have made life so much easier, and so much safer for her and her family. Now Clarke had to face the problems and risks head on and work out a way by which she could make two crews become one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the final chapter of part 2. The third and final part of the trilogy will be posted as soon as I start to write it, it will be 'Two Krus Become One'


End file.
